Guardian Princess
by Artemis615
Summary: Kamui meets a stunningly beautiful lady who was feared among those who have encountered her. As he gets closer to her unconciously, her past and her fear is slowly starting to resurface once again. KamuixOC
1. Prologue

Disclaimer-I do not own Kamui or any other characters from crossover Tsubasa Tokyo Revelation, Code Geass; Lelouch of the Rebellion or Vampire Knights. But I do own some of the characters I created based on my imagination. The names may be similar to some movies or anime, but if they do, pardon me, there's no other name suitable for it and I've grown tired trying to think of a better name for the heroine. After all, this is fanfiction... Am I right?

Warning-There MAY be no Subaru in this series, but I'll consider to put him in here anyway. This story talks about Kamui and Leia, a character I created for Kamui. I've grown bored seeing all the hot guys staying single thoughout the story. So, I created a 'girl' for Kamui, and that's Leia. Of course, she's perfectly perfect, except for some minor nightmare and horrific past. I've created a girl whomI think is perfect for Kamui, but if you think she can become more perfect, please, drop your comment. I hope you enjoy it because my imagination can't seems to stop running and I'll have to write it down whenever I think of some story lines. It's a waste to not publish what I thought for so long. No matter how bad I write, please review. I need to correct myself if there's some errors in my story. Ideas are welcomed.

Prologue

It's been 10 years since the acid rain started falling. The rivers, lakes, and ponds are all unsuitable for drinking water. All the buildings with filtering tools have been done in by the rain and won't work properly. In Tokyo, there have always been underground water veins. Even so, it's not just the buildings; the acidity has spread into the grounds. Without some kind of big shelter, the water in the underground would have been the same as those from the above. That's why the water underground has been so important to the livings, and the Tower, the one other place where there's still water. The people of the Tokyo Government Building and the people from the Tower are still at war, as these are the only two places left where there's still water. A short while ago, there were a few buildings which had maintained their integrity, but now only the Tower and the Tokyo Government Building has left and it remained unchanged for the last fifteen years. The only places where people still lives are within these 23 wards of Tokyo. And now, I'm going to relate to you my memories for the past 100 years since my encounter with Kamui. My name is Leia and you are about to hear a story about my memories as a Dream Seer.


	2. Tale 1: The Meeting

Notes From Author: The story are created based on the real anime, so... SORRY! And about the Tower, I have to make them look bad. Because I love Tarot, I decided to include some of their facts into my story. Please review... Dozo yoroshiku.

Tale 1: The Meeting...

The Earth is dying; this is what everyone in this era knows about it and yet could do nothing to stop the damages. Earthquakes, falling buildings, terrorisms; these are no longer a surprising and shocking news but considered as normal to everyone. It happened almost everyday now, seeing that people are slowly going insane with the atmosphere and the situation they had to face. However, there are some places to be known as 'checkpoint'; there people can rest and collect water safely. But slowly the water starts to dry out, and that made "The Tower" and the "Tokyo Government Building" all the more important as there held the most water and food source. But the People of the Tower and the People of the Source is always fighting against each other, competing for food and territory. And one of the reasons is the Tokyo Government Building is located quite near with the Tower and the place of the food source is right in the middle of it.

The Tower is well-known for their brutal strength and violent in protecting their area. The Tower is like a death god's territory for the people. They only accept people who are strong and brave, while they cast off the weak and sick. Even woman who is treasured in this time must become strong in order to live, and those who are weak are cast off too. The name of the 'Tower' takes the form from the tarot cards, where the Tower is the worst omen and it brings about trouble and death to those who encounter it.

Two veiled humans happened to ride on a powered motor along the route towards the Tokyo Government Building. They appeared to be very young judging by their features and they are both girls for sure; their boots appeared to be far smaller than an adult man. As they kept on riding into the wind, the acid rain started to fall rapidly on both of them. Using her acid-rain proof cloak, the taller girl covered the shorter girl with it.

They speed all the way through the route and finally arrived inside the Tokyo Government Building, one of the buildings that didn't get corroded by the rain. The taller girl shut down the motor and helped the smaller girl down from the motor.

Once arriving inside safely from the acid rain, the taller girl quickly brushes off the dirt and water from the smaller girl's body. Irritated, the little girl brushes off her hand and said, "Leia Onee-sama! I can brush it myself!"

Continuing even thou after her hand has been brushes off, Leia said in a gentle voice, "Cannot, Freya...Your hand can get corroded by the acid water that still stays on your cloak, and that hurts..."

"Then how about you, Onee-sama? You'll hurt yourself too if you touch the acid water..." cried Freya to her sister, who was being over protective towards her sister.

"I'm fine with it, I'm used to the pain, so it doesn't hurt anymore," Leia said defensively to her little sister. "I don't want to left a scar on your hand; I promised to you that I will try not to bring any more pain to you, seeing that it's my fault that you'll not be able to see Mother and Papa..."

"It's not Onee-sama's fault at all!" Freya cried and holds her sister hand. That made Leia looked up and surprised to see that Freya smiled to her. "Onee-sama already in pain as to have witness the murder of Mother and Papa. Freya knows. Although Freya is still young Freya can understand Onee-sama's pain..."

"How do you know that I'm in pain, Freya?" ask Leia, who was curious as to how her sister found out about it.

"From your eyes. They always look sad whenever they saw Freya." answered Freya innocently to her sister. Freya was just a 5 year old child and she already has such eyes to see through people's emotions. She would have become a very powerful Seer if her strange illness has not attack her.

CRACK!!

A sound ranged into the silent building. Leia was quick to react and pull her little sister to safety. And while she does, she saw dead bodies piled up in a horrible way. Both of the sisters are used to it, so they're not affected by it. But Leia is worried about the dangers inside and wonders whether it's safe to stay in here for the night. And for that, she decided to check on this place before they stay here.

"Freya, I need you to stay here quietly. Hide if you heard any noise or unfamiliar sound. I'm going only for a while to check up the situation on this place. It's-"

"-better to be safe than sorry," Freya cut into Leia's words as she is familiar and had memorized the words often used by her sister. "I got it, Onee-sama. I'll be good and stay here. So, please be careful and come back safely."

Leia smiled at her sister and straightened her sister's pink colored hood to cover her better. Next she done it on her own blood-red colored cloak and hidden her face features under a translucent veil to avoid any unwanted scamps nearing her. Leia was a very beautiful lady with piercing dark cherry red colored eyes. She was one of the rare beauties in these days as the population of humans dropped increasingly and left less female humans around, earning the love and respect of the males left. But she was not someone who's after male's attention; rather, they are the ones after her for her beauty. And that is what makes her loath those who stare at her.

The sound of her boots clicked smartly against the dusty floor broke into the eerily silent darkness. There was some kind of path that was cleared with the larger stones moved aside; some of the surface of the stones were sliced off clean and it doesn't look like a ruined and abandoned building, rather, it looks like someone had just had a fight here, seeing the footprints gave her hints for the idea.

She spotted one corpse lying on the floor with eyes wide open, blood still flow out from its mouth and nose. She crouch down to take a better look at the corpse to investigate what weapon is used to kill it, her long blood-red cloak piled up elegantly on the dusty floor in which she ignored it. It seems that the entire corpses are killed by arrows, seeing as arrows sticking from every inches of their body.

Pitying the poor corpse for unable to rest in peace with its eyes wide open, she placed her hand over its eyes and closed her eyes. A soft white light emit from her hand and her hair seems to flutter in an unseen breeze. After a while she removed her hand the corpse eyes has closed and seems to look more at ease.

KA-CHAK!

The familiar sound of weapon being drawn alerted Leia. She quickly jumps to her feet only to narrowly avoid an arrow hit her hand. Moment's later shower of arrows shot from every direction and she avoided them by jumping and kicking away those arrows. Good thing she learned how to battle and defend from her royal family. She managed to persuade her brother, Touya, whom had lost his life in war to teach her swords skills. She also learned how to avoid secret weapons by avoiding them from hitting her.

She was concentrating hard and managed to avoid all the arrows gracefully. But unfortunately, her long billowing cloak was blocking some of her views on the arrows. She was avoiding the arrows based on her intuition and the feel of the wind as the arrows pass by. One arrow shot out from nowhere that is different from the flow of the arrow rain. It would've hit her head had she not bend backward the moment she felt it coming her way. The arrow caught her cloak and it takes it off from her shoulder and it hit the wall behind her.

Only her veil had left in its place as she straightened herself. She saw 7 silhouetted human billowing in long cloak, all hooded. The one standing in the middle of them starts to speak to her in a mocking manner, "Since you've set foot in this place, I take it that you'd like to die?"

"An unfamiliar face..." said one of the taller ones at her right side. He seems to be the tallest of them all and he holds a bow.

"That kick was cool!" the one beside the tallest one said aloud in a childish manner. It seems that he is still a kid but he also holds a bow similar to the tallest guy.

"She's an intruder! Don't be lax!" a woman snapped at the kid by protesting that it isn't the time to see or praise someone in action.

"On top of that, she's a thief too..." a guy's monotone-d voice joined in the quarrel. It seems that he agrees with the woman.

Leia stares at them with her eyes flaring behind her veiled face. She is clearly irritated by their comment on her, even go to a point in saying that she's a thief! This has gone too far... she thought.

"So, what will you do, Kamui?" a more matured voice that indicates he's a man ask the man who stands in the middle, which appears to be their leader named Kamui.

Kamui throws back his hood and revealed a face that belonged to a prince. He has dark brown hair and cold amethyst eyes, along with his tall figure hidden behind blood-stained cloak. For a spilt second Leia thought that looks he quite cute, but quickly ignored it and stick to the fact that he is her enemy if he chooses to fight with her.

Kamui keeps silent and took his aim, intending to test whether she is what he thinks she is. He fires an arrow mercilessly, which she easily caught it in her hand and intended to snap it in two, but then another arrow came into her way and she had to abandon the thought of snapping the arrow in her hand. She threw it to the grounds and flipped backward gracefully like it's a piece of cake. She landed with poise and glare at him behind her veil. Kamui fixed his gaze at Leia's eyes, but slowly let his eyes wanders through her body and take in whatever information about her background through her outfit.

She had a very slim but fit body, which was further let known with her tight corset that well indicates that she is a royal. Under the corset he can see very clearly that a loose fitting pink silk was fitted to her slim figure and matched with her corset. She also wears a very short blood-red skirt which generously exposes her bare thigh, which was smooth and unscratched. Her black boots covered only half her leg, which was of pure leather and matches well with her cream-colored skin. She has hair as black as ebony and beautiful hand of smooth porcelain. She sure looks gorgeous. He mentally slapped himself as his thoughts wanders off.

"Seems like you're the leader here..." spoke Leia, challenging Kamui into a fight.

"She's pretty conceited, isn't she? A pretty woman she is..." said the one who had ask Kamui what to do about her.

"Poor girl, she doesn't even know who she is talking to..."

"Does she think she can win Kamui with her small figure?" the one who crouch down said out aloud, intending to find more quarrels to quench his thirst for conversation.

"That's impossible for sure! The only one who can fight Kamui on equal terms is..."

Before that guy can finish his words, Kamui toss away the bow and leaps off from where he stands. He lands easily on foot and quickly makes his move to attack Leia, with his hand in a spear-like way he hacked his way towards her. Leia avoided his hand and placed a hand to shield her veiled face from his hand and by doing so both Kamui and Leia gazed into each others eyes briefly. She was the first to break the connection and uses her leg to make him loose his footings. But unfortunately he was quicker in his move and thus avoided her by jumping to safety.

He landed easily like before and moved in again to attack her. This time, she avoided him by jumping and placing a hand on his shoulder. Her veil brushes against his cloak and her face is revealed only to Kamui. Both of them gazed deeply into each others eyes and Kamui saw that Leia was a very beautiful young girl with piercing cherry-red colored eyes, which occurs to him that she was very familiar. She realized that he saw her face and quickly land on her foot and uses her left leg to kick him, which she fail as he uses his left hand to block her leg.

He caught her leg and threw her towards the walls. Leia was quick to gain back her senses and stands on the wall for a brief moment and kicked the wall to attack Kamui. They engaged in a fight using hand and legs until they were tangled in each others company. Leia's right leg was slid up to round up Kamui's neck, ready to crush them anytime; while Kamui had his left hand woven around Leia's neck, which she also had her right hand holding up Kamui's arm if he intends to crush her neck. Kamui's right hand had somehow found its way towards Leia's slim waist, with his hand in a spear-like way that'll squash her waist if she intends to move.

Blood bleed and soaked itself slowly into Leia's cloth, they both gaze into each others eyes deeply again. Leia stares at him without any emotions; while Kamui's heart seems to beat faster the more he stares at her. Their current position seems to look like they were couples ready to kiss. A thought struck him and he realizes where he had seen her. Leia seize this chance and throws Kamui backward, which he ended lying on the floor. Leia climbs on top of him and stares at him with a gentle expression, her long hair fall around like a black curtain around him, which Kamui was found surprised. But yet he concealed his expression by acting emotionless and also stares into her eyes, which he finds captivating.

Leia lowered her mouth near to his ear and whispered to him, "I'm here for just a night, nothing more. So please, don't bother us again. Onegai..." Leia lifted her head and stared into Kamui's eyes again, with an expression of utter tiredness. It's the first time he heard her speak, and her voice sounded perfectly angelic like silk that feels so smooth against his skin. He felt electric pulses ran through his veins the moment she came into contact with him. His thoughts ended abruptly as she stands up and proceeds to walk away when someone said her name out aloud.

"LEIA!" someone said her name out loud, and a figure slowly makes his way towards her and Kamui. Leia slowly turns around and face the summoner who calls out her name.

"Kakyou?" she said slowly as he throws back his hood and revealed a mid 20 years old guy who had long golden mane and pale skin. He smiles at her, which she smiles slightly only to be interrupted by sounds of motor engines ringing loudly in the tensed air.

"What's that?" said one of the smaller kid aloud, who was curious as the source of the sound came from outside.

Kamui silenced and turned dead serious as her heard the sound of motors.

"They're here..."

End of Tale 1: The Meeting...


	3. Tale 2: The Tower

Tale 2: The Tower

Tale 2: The Tower...

Everyone, including Leia arrived at the place where her own motor sat on the filthy ground. Her own motor is sure looks far more powerful and smart looking than those of the intruders. One of the intruders who happened to sound like a young girl younger than her voiced out her opinion about her motor.

"Wow! What a cool motor! Who does it belongs to?" the girl said out aloud and raised her hand to touch it but was interrupted by Leia quickly.

"I'm afraid that belongs to me and I will pretty much appreciate it if you would keep your hands of it." Said Leia warningly to her, apparently annoyed that some strangers dared to touch her powered motor which was a gift from her friend, Leaf. He gave her the motor in the hope that she will use it for the good of mankind and save everyone, as he was the one who prophesied that she was the only one who can save Mother Earth from dying.

The girl pretended she doesn't heard Leia and stretched her hand further to touch the motor bike. Before she could touch it, Leia appeared right beside her in a matter of a second from Kamui's side to that of her motor's side, which was quite a distance away from each other. Everyone including the girl was shocked by Leia herself, because no ordinary human can do that, except for Kamui and Fuuma of course.

Leia grabbed hold of her hand and had intentionally thrown her backwards to the crumbling walls with superhuman strength, much to everyone's surprise. The girl never hit the wall, and even had the cheek to try and stab her back by pouncing from behind her, cursing loudly, "YOU BITCH!"

Leia turned around coolly and a knife came scraping her face lightly. She opened her eyes and revealed a quick but visible only to her attacker a glimpse of her anger with her eyes turning into crimson blood red color. As the girl was experiencing shock from Leia, she takes the opportunity to slap her hard across the face, forcing her to let go of her weapon and landed hard on the ground with her face badly bruised by a mere slap from Leia.

Fuuma hurriedly went and help the girl up from the ground and was surprised by the blue-black bruise that was starting to swollen up at an alarming rate. That girl sure was rough, and does she need to hit her that hard, thought Fuuma. Apparently unhappy with the fact that those from the Source had hit one of his comrades that easily, he planned to settle a score with Leia. If she was that powerful to beat one of his best fighters, then she must be able to fight with me, thought Fuuma.

Leia was standing at the exact spot where she had thrown the girl off from her spot, staring with an empty emotion on her beautiful face. Those people who was there at the time was struck with disbelief. How can a mere young girl that looks no older than 18 beat their second best fighter that easy? The world must be turning upside down.

"Bitch? It's been a long while since I heard anyone who dared to speak to me that way..." said Leia mercilessly to the girl who was at the verge of crying because of the pain. Fuuma stands up and pulled along the girl with him. He walks her back to the safety of their group, which another woman came to take care of her and coaxed her.

Fuuma walks up to Leia and said, "Why did you hit her that hard? She has done nothing wrong but just to touch something that she doesn't know whose. "

Leia stared at him for a very long time before she walks up to him, saying "Eat skunk, you good for nothing sand-collector..."

Everyone who heard her either smirked or chocked in their own saliva. Even Kamui, who was up to a stoic face all the time smirked slightly, while Leia just kept her emotionless expression up and treat what she just said as nothing but a word instead of an insult. Fuuma was greatly annoyed by her words, but was unable to speak out of shame and shock. Nobody has ever insulted him this bad, even if there is they were dead long time ago. But surprisingly this little girl has this much bravery to speak to me this way, she must have signed up for a death certificate years earlier, thought Fuuma.

Before Fuuma can take any further actions for the insult just freshly thrown at him, Leia walks away gracefully with her boots clicking on the floor loudly, further angering Fuuma. Seeing that she walks towards the way where Kamui stood, he quickly tries to stop her by turning her around. But before he could touch her, she took hold of his hand and, using her leg, she pinned him towards a wall with her boots chocking him.

"Don't touch me with your filthy hand..." Leia said coldly to Fuuma, who tremble slightly in his thought as he and everyone else in the place witness the change of Leia's hair and eyes. Dark cherry colored red gradually fades and a crimson blood red color takes over her eyes color. Her hair had taken in the shade of scorching fire and floated in an unseen breeze. No matter how beautiful and innocent looking a girl looks; she will become very frightening when angered. And I just happen to have the luck in angering her, thought Fuuma.

Leia released Fuuma after seeing the fear in his eyes that proves he had witnessed her anger. Right after she released him, her hair and eyes are back to their normal color again. She turned around to walk away from Fuuma, looking as if she had loses her interest in him. Fuuma cheekily straightened himself from being pinned in the wall, brushing off the dirt that had stuck itself on his coat. Just as he was about to start walking, Leia turned around suddenly and slapped him across his face hard and he ended up falling in his butt. His mouth bleed from the slap and it started to get swollen at an alarming rate, just like Yuzu-chan, he thought, as his hand automatically touches on the place where Leia had just slapped and the feeling of the pain throbbing beneath his skin.

Leia walked up to him and stepped over him. She stared down at him with an air of superiority and did the unexpected thing; sitting on top of him. Fuuma supported himself with his elbows and stared right into Leia's eyes, which was cold and freezing and seems to have the ability to freeze him on the spot. Seriously, this girl is getting creepier the more I get to know her... thought Fuuma.

"Don't you ever, EVER touch someone of higher rank than yourself...," she said by leaning forward so that her face was right in front of him, and her lips inches from his. "-If you value your pathetic life... Now, leave with your annoying brats before I stuff a skunk in your mouth"

She stands up again to let Fuuma scramble to his feet and quick as they came, they dispatched and left the place without a trace. The way they scramble onto their motor was like they've just saw a ghost. Leia was watching Fuuma all the time, while Fuuma was too frightened to even glance at her. It seems that Leia has left a trace of herself in everyone's mine after what she had just done, chasing a bunch of ungrateful and annoying brats away from her precious motor.

All of them left the place already and their motor was out of sight. The people who wear blood red cloaks, all 6 of them gaped at her for her ability to chase away the annoying brats that easily. It was rare for a girl at her age to be able to handle this kind of situation, especially those people from the Tower, which was famous for their rough and murderous nature, fond of killing off people who came to steal their water from the Tower and loves to expand their territory by stealing and chasing the people out of their own territory.

"Wow, you're great lady. Chase away a bunch of 'annoying brats' with some words and skills!" said one of them.

"She was just lucky this time, but she will not be this lucky from now on..." said another one, who had the monotone voice voiced out his opinion.

"So, what will you do with her, Kamui? Since she has helped us to handle those guys from the Tower, shouldn't we be thanking her instead?" said another.

"What! You want to thank her? She barged into the situation out of her own free will!" said a woman's voice.

Leia didn't reply them but walk towards Kamui with solemn expression. Both of them stared at each other for a long time before Leia speaks,

"You're Kamui, aren't you?"

Kamui kept silent with her.

"He is Kamui; he keeps silent all the time and avoids conversation if he can. As you've seen and asked earlier, he's our leader and the Prince of this place, protecting it with us, the Knights. He's the one who gave us orders though..." Kakyou answers her in place of Kamui, since Kamui was speechless after witnessing what she had just done.

Leia was still staring at him, sort of daring him to make the first move. But after a while, she gave up, and looks at the corpses around her that was most probably murdered or killed by these people. Then she did the unexpected thing,

"Try not to kill them the next time they came to steal water. And if you do, try to give them a simple burial, or else you'll raise the rate of polluted air by having them here to decompose in this heat..." her eyes were filled with sadness of some sort, which only Kamui can see. Is she the one I've seen not long ago? He thought.

She was preparing to turn around and walk away when suddenly sound of footsteps ringing in the silent atmosphere. Leia was preparing herself for more annoying brats again when suddenly someone came hugging her tightly around the middle and said out aloud,

"ONEE-SAMA! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG,"

Everyone was shocked by Freya's sudden appearance and in such a trance too! Even Leia, who had been wearing an emotionless mask all the time, was shocked by her sister's appearance. A sudden sound of stomach growl broke the surprise and everyone smirked, except for Leia and Kamui. Ashamed, Freya lifted her heavily blushed face and look at Leia shyly, "I'm hungry..." she confessed.

Kamui figured out that this little girl that stands no higher than his waist was the maiden's sister. She was very cute and looks extremely alike to her sister, which he came to know that Leia was her name. She wore a light pink colored dress with a pink colored cloak, which was well made and embroidered. She has silvery white hair, probably due to a sickness, and...

Before he could think further, the little girl called Freya trotted towards him and hold onto his leg, to his uttermost surprise. "Freya!' shushed Leia to her sister, who had embarrassed her since she came and had managed to create a few scenes enough to last a lifetime in a person's memory. Her discomfort is further amplified when she hug a cute stranger that had previously been her enemy!

Freya ignored her sister and stares up at the cute stranger, who was times taller than she was now. She knows his future, and she also knows her sister's future. But she kept quiet about it because if she speaks about it, the future may change. But for now she knows that this stranger starts to fall in love with Leia, and she is trying to do her part for the future...

"Nee, Onii-chan, can we stay here for the night?" said Freya in a very cute expression, giving him her best smile. Kamui saw that she has soft brown eyes, and he even sensed a very strong power from her, probably a Seer's power. Even her smiles are with intention. She surely is something hard to deal with, especially when she was a matured kid far too early for her age, thanks to her Seer's power. But her sister is surely not a hard thing to deal with too... he thought.


	4. Tale 3: The Legendary Beauty

Notes From Author: Sorry for the late updates. My exams is coming this 9th of May, but I'll try my best to study and write at the same time. I'm also avaliable in . My friendster account name is Artemis615, the same name as my fanfiction pen name. My e-mail is . And once again I insist, the Leia in my story, is DEFINATELY not me.

Okay, I decided to change something. Subaru will appear in my story, but there's something I must inform to all who viewed and read my story. It is said that the twins must always be together right? I'll make them 'not-necessary-always-together', like normal siblings. Kazuki and Nataku are siblings, Leia and Freya are siblings and Kamui and Subaru are siblings. That means there are three pair of siblings here. Maybe more will come up soon.

Maybe in the next chapter I'll focus on Leia's past and her power. This is the only thing that I'll announce for the moment, coz I don't want to be a spoiler.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I write some notes on Tale 1: The Meeting right? I said, "please, drop your comment." That was an accident. I was going to write, "please, drop by your comment", which means, 'please comment'. You see, it's the first time I post a story into and I was nervous! And not to mention embarrased too. I can't imagine how am I gonna write those kissing and intimate scenes later. And worse, I told my friends to read my story too. It was sooo embarrasing when I told them about it and you have no idea how I felt that time. It was like "OH MY GOD!"

Please don't scold me for writing these stories. I'm really sorry if I wrote something you think is ridiculous or outrageous or impossible or non-logical or...or...or...

Tale 3: The Legendary Beauty...

"Freya! You cannot do this to strangers, you'll only trouble them further..." said Leia to Freya, who was still staring up at Kamui with her soft brown eyes that gradually demand for something that he don't know. He was beginning to feel hot on his face when Leia suddenly came to scoop Freya into her arms, which surprised both Freya and Kamui as she came so suddenly. Leia strengthened herself and said to Kamui, "Sorry for interfering," before she walks away with Freya, who was struggling to get out from her sister's grip.

Kamui was half way into stopping her from leaving when suddenly Kakyou leaps forward and reached out his hand to stop Leia. And Leia, who was quite surprised at Kakyou's sudden boldness, stopped herself from going further and turned around elegantly, sending her long jet black hair flying while Freya's eyes Everyone's jaw was dropping wide as wide as saucers as Kakyou was never this bold before to anyone. He never speaks more than he should and he is categorized as the same with Kamui.

"Please don't go... Our situation here needs you desperately here." Said Kakyou unexpectedly, who surprises everyone with his request. While some of them are surprised, there is also some other who was annoyed...

"What do you mean by that, Kakyou? Our situation doesn't go that bad. Why do we need her help?" said one of the woman wearing blood red cloaks. She threw back her hood and revealed her facial features to everyone. She has short black hair tied back with a white ribbon and her fringe was colored in yellow. She seems to be the second shortest person here by height and she wears a pair of spectacles to conceal her cold and calculating eyes. She was in her early 20-ies and was obviously angry at Kakyou. Jealous maybe, thought Leia.

"Our situation needs someone of great power to protect and shield this place from falling apart, someone powerful to create a barrier for this place, someone like her. Please understand." Kakyou explains to the woman, who was still fuming with anger and she looks tremendously frightening with her icy cold glares thrown toward Leia. Leia keeps her expression unreadable by acting normal. It seems that she is immune to the cold glares thrown at her roughly by the woman.

"And why makes you think that she is able to do that?" ask Kamui, who startled everyone. He was normally silent about interrogation and always lets his Knights does the job, but today, it's different. Kakyou only glanced at Kamui for a while and kept quiet. It seems that he doesn't want to tell anyone the details further.

"Answer me, Kakyou." Said Kamui, who was losing his patience as the time ticked by slowly.

The air was getting tenser as the moment pass by without any answers from Kakyou. Kakyou kept silence and was reluctant to answer Kamui's questions. He only stares at the floor where the sand and rubbles lay scattered on the grounds and stands still as a statue. Kamui was getting really pissed off and was going to get angry by Kakyou's silence. It was then suddenly someone said calmly, "Machi nasai."

Everyone turned their heads around and realized that it was Leia who spoke. Walking casually and calmly towards Kamui and gradually slowed her pace, she stopped right in front of Kamui and faced him. Staring deeply into Kamui's amethyst jewel, she said once again, "Machi nasai."

With that word, she turned around to face Kakyou. He was hanging his head low before Leia came, but after she did, he look up on her. Her eyes look gentle and soft, but at the same time, it looks promising. All eyes were fixed on her alone and it didn't bring any confused or scared expression on her. It seems that she had changed a lot since then, thought Kakyou.

"It's okay," explained Leia to Kakyou. She smiled slightly towards Kakyou and continued, "Tell them. Tell them everything they want to know... Tell them everything they need to know... I don't mind."

Standing right at the same spot, she turned around to face everyone. Sighing, Kakyou exclaimed, "Are you sure?"

Leia turned her head around to face him and gave him a kind of look that looks quite like a cold glare. Kakyou immediately changes his look and faced around everyone so that they can see him clearly. Clearing his throat, he answered Kamui's question.

"Leia is the 18 year old legendary beauty of the Hikari clan, who was also known as the Blood Princess. She's a very powerful sorceress who possessed the power to see other beings which we're not able to, and that includes the power to generate a barrier to protect one place. Her village was destroyed 3 years ago in a massacre and managed to escape the mass murder with her sister, Freya. Both of them is a Dream Seer like me, but are more powerful than me. And unfortunately, Freya was infected with an strange illness which requires a blue poppy to alleviate the pain that the disease cause, which was very rare and becomes near impossible to find it with the acid rain falling and destroying every living being and the world in a state like this."

Freya came to stand by her sister's side, wherein Leia take her petite hand into her warm and gentle hand, warming it into the bones of her little fingers. Freya had always loved her sister, and will willingly sacrifice her life for her. She hated to see her sister looking sad or angry, as she knew that Leia only done that for her sake. Her sister has always been the one who protect and care for her every need, including love. Leia was her everything, her father, mother as well as a loving sister who care for others more than she care for herself. She missed her smile, which was warm and gentle, and wished deep in her soul secretly that one day she'll be able to smile again like she used to be.

Freya hugged her sister, who was fussing over Freya's near-freezing fingers and was quite surprised that Freya hugged her suddenly. Nonetheless, Leia embraced her sister affectionately and smiled slightly. Leia's body is warm, and coming into contact with the freezing Freya made her instinctively raised her right hand up and summoned her cloak back into her hands with her ability.

It was that time when Kakyou finished his explanation to Kamui about Leia and her sister Freya, the blood red cloak that belonged to Leia soared right past all of them and it resulted in 5 people was shocked and have their mouth gaped open in a totally outrageous way and 2 people looking like nothing had just happened and continue to glare at each other.

Leia wrapped her long blood-red cloak around Freya and adjusted the long cloak to fit into Freya's petite form. After adjusting it to fit Freya's form so that when she walk she will not stumble, Leia asked her sister in a gentle voice, "Is it warm enough?"

Freya looked up at her sister, who had crouch down so that she and herself is situated in an eye-level height, smiled warmly and adorably to her sister, who remarks loudly, "It's warm! Thank you Onee-sama!" Quick as it comes and goes, she grinned widely, then paused with her expression being replaced with a concerned look, "But, aren't you cold?"

Leia grinned at her sister and shake her head, who replied to her in a gentler tone, "No, I'm not cold. You may have it." Raising her hand up, she smoothed Freya's silvery hair, which glowed like starlight in the dark. Her illness had made her hair changes their color from brownish-black to silvery white. But nevertheless, she doesn't mind it at all. Leia loved her sister more than anything, because she is her only blood-sister and will do anything to make her happy. Unconsciously, her thoughts and Freya's thoughts are alike. But Leia's love for her sister had made her unintentionally ignored the people around her.

The sudden stillness of the situation shattered Leia's thoughts and brought her back to reality. It was there and then she realized that everyone is looking at her direction. Puzzled, she blinked her eyes a few times and blurted out, "What?"

5 people gaped at her. 2 other just look at her. Her sister look comically cute with her big brown eyes staring back at them, sort of thinking that they look funny with their mouths hanging wide open. Kakyou was going to explain to them that it was one of Leia's ability when unfortunately, to Kakyou and Kamui's dismay; all of them throw back their hood at one fell swoop and blurted out in chorus, "YOU'RE A MAGIC WIELDER?"

Kakyou spluttered and smacked a thwarting hand over his pale face while Kamui's irritated face grown more annoyed and looks like he'll blow up any moment. Leia was surprised that they were all that slow in catching up information's. Clearly, they have not paid attention to any of Kakyou's speech at all. Thinking that this situation will not get them anywhere near truth, Leia decided to explain it herself instead.

Standing up, she made her way towards Kakyou and Kamui, who was standing near each other. Freya was brought along with her small hand in her own warm ones. Freya kept silent and let her sister guide her through the road, all the time fixing her gaze at Leia. Onee-sama was perfect in beauty, arts and skills, but was never a happy person, thought Freya. Leia walk on without any expression on her face and stopped her tracks near Kakyou. She glances over at some of them wearing the same mask over her face.

The tallest one looks like someone who had been to the army, with experience adorn his looks and body. He had charcoal black hair and has a deep voice. Seems like he's the oldest here, thought Leia.

The other one standing near him is a good-looking Blondie, who looks kind and gentle. He doesn't seem to be someone who is cruel enough to kill people. But who knows, don't judge a book by its cover.

The others also had lowered their hood, and thus revealed who they are. One of them has snow white hair and has a purple mark over his forehead, like a three petal Sakura. He looks like a cold-blooded human and doesn't seem to give a damn about anything else. There's a little boy with red hair standing in front of him. Looks like there's another pair of siblings here, believed Leia.

"I'm Leia the sorceress. I came to seek a rare flower here in Tokyo, the Capital of Water. Both of us, my sister Freya and I are a Dream Seer. My sister can see the future, while I can only see the past and present, which allows me to travel freely through people's dream. Kakyou was our friend, whom we met in dreams and came to know that there's a rare flower here that can help Freya. For some reasons our journey was interrupted. We were heading towards the Hill of Serpent when suddenly the acid rain came falling. I'm fine by it, but I don't want Freya to get hurt by it."

Her expression softens a bit, which turns out to be a sad expression. "We'll be here for a night if you don't mind, Kamui. Tell me if you felt that we're bothering you."

Before Kamui could speak again, Kakyou pulled him away from Leia and gathered the other Knights for a quick talk. Thou irritated, Kamui swallowed his anger and tries to tolerate with them, seeing that Kakyou was never this nervous before the arrival of Leia and Freya. I ought to know what makes Leia this terrifying to the people of the other capitals, thought Kamui.

"Kamui, please let her stay here..." said Kakyou to Kamui, who was knitting his brows together, sort of thinking in some ways. But at the same time, Kamui heard Kakyou's questions and was wondering why he wants Leia to stay here.

"How bad is our situation until we have to generate a barrier to protect this place, Kakyou?" ask Kamui, who was getting more curious at Kakyou's words and actions. He seems to be hiding something from them, but it seems that only Kamui realize that, while the others stayed as dense as they are.

Upon hearing Kamui's questions, Kakyou's expression changed to that of worry and fear. The power and barrier that he provided to the Tokyo Government Building is slowly fading and weakening. It was suppose to protect the building from getting corroded by the acid rain. The Tower also had their own sorceress, whom is responsible for the condition of the tower that holds many people and of course, the water. But the power that both The Tower's and the Tokyo Government Building's Barrier power will not last long just by the mere power of a sorceress and his own. Kakyou himself is not a sorcerer, but a Dream Seer with powers to generate a barrier. But both his and the Tower's sorceress powers are unable to match Leia's powers, even for the next hundred years. But people of this kind of power are rare and it was considered more of a curse than a gift...

End of Tale 3: The Legendary Beauty.


	5. Tale 4: The Healer

Notes From Author: I'm terribly sorry for the late update! I have exams last week and can't think about what am I going to write. Nevertheless, I've finished Tale 4. And maybe the next story, MAYBE, I'll post it after 2 weeks. And if I'm free, maybe one week later. MAYBE.

I promised to write something about Leia's past and powers right? And I'm sorry to inform that, I didn't write it. I'm Sorry! It's just that there's so many ideas suddenly, SUDDENLY pop up in my mind and I had to write it down as quickly as I can before they vapourise like always. You see, I had a knack of forgetting something that only seconds ago I've thought. That's my weakness. And sorry too if you think that I'm writing crap, because some of the crap I write turns out to be pretty goodI'm not commenting myself of course. My sister agreed on my works and also, my friends Please leave your comment about what I write. I don't mind anyone commenting me, and hereby I thank Angy for her great comment.

And once again, sorry if you think my story is ridiculously ridiculous and absolutely not smashing but outrageously outrageous. Enjoy!!

Tale 4: The Healer...

Kakyou lead all of them into the safe side of the building, which was astoundingly comfortable and everything had remained intact despite the looks of the outer building. The inner building was like a 5 star hotel tower, except that all of it is in Japanese style, with sliding wooden doors, high ceilings and tatami floors, those type where in the old days nobles and the royals lived in. The place reminds Leia of her younger days, when she would always ran to her mother and father's side in their royal house in Japan. But not any longer since the climate changes drastically 10 years ago.

A sudden sound of sneeze brought her back from her memories. She looks down and found that Freya was using her hand to brush her nose, looking like it's itchy. Leia reached into her pocket and held out a handkerchief. Crouching down, Leia used the handkerchief and rub Freya's nose. Irritated and ashamed that her sister had to take care of her in front of everyone, Freya brushed Leia's hand away and takes the handkerchief, "Onee-sama! I can do this myself!"

Using the handkerchief she got from Leia, she blew her nose with it, earning her the looks of all the 6 Knights and Prince. Kakyou, Yuuto, Kusanagi and Kazuki snorted, while Satsuki and Nataku both threw Freya an irritated look. Leia realize this and stands in front of Freya protectively, blocking her from their view. It seems like they dislike the dream seer siblings.

Both of them threw Leia a disgusted look and turned around the other way after Freya was blocked by Leia.

"Oi, where're you guys going?" exclaimed Yuuto to both of them, who was just going to disappear behind a corridor when Yuuto cried out. Both of them turned around to face everyone with a disgusted expression, but quickly changed them when they happened to 'accidentally' take a glance on Kamui, whose sour-face had scared them deep into their core. All of them are quite surprised to see their expression changed rapidly instead of their 'half-hour-sulk', whom everyone had came to know about their personality after a few years living together in the Capital of Water.

Leia's quick wit had enables her to guess what makes them appear less annoyed, which she glanced over at Kamui. She unconsciously stared at him for a very long time, in which Kamui himself was quite aware of. He knows who she was, and yet at the same time he doesn't know about her. He and Subaru, his other half, used to travel to many countries and worlds before, and had came across a young girl whose facial feature closely resembles Leia. No, not closely, she looks exactly like Leia, even their name and powers are the same. It's just that their personality seems a bit different. But, is there such thing as coincidence? I don't think so, thought Kamui. Yuuko had told him and Subaru that there's no coincidence in this world, only the inevitability.

Kamui dismissed the group that still teases both Nataku and Satsuki for their sudden change of expression, which they think is funny. Kazuki, Nataku's 12 year-old little brother was running all around them, trying to annoy his big brother. Kamui steps up to stop all the rackets when his order did not quite 'register' in their mind. All of them, including Kazuki, stopped their fuss immediately and looked at Kamui, sort of waiting for orders.

"Kakyou, lead both of them to the guest room, Nataku, Satsuki, prepare some refreshment, Yuuto, Kusanagi, Kazuki, the three of you will follow me," said Kamui quietly and sternly, and he makes sure that all of them heard and obey his orders unquestioningly. All of them nodded and proceed to do what they've been ordered to do.

The air was tense and eerily silent. All of them trod silently on the tatami floor, creating a light thumping sound which cracks in the air. Kamui walks behind Kakyou, in which he leads all of them to the guest room as instructed by Kamui earlier. It was actually a meeting room, and at the same time, it also acts as a guest room when negotiations with the other capital's ambassador are needed. The People of the Source are whom they call the people who lives and belonged to the Tokyo Government Building. They are called the Source because they owned the source of the water, wherein there's a huge water reservoir underneath the Tokyo Government Building, which was heavily guarded and hidden from the outside people. Those who are allowed to go in is none other that the Prince and the Knights.

Kazuki was staring at Freya unconsciously. For all of his life he had never seen another girl as pretty as Freya. Long silvery-hair, beautiful brown eyes, and of course, not to mention the air of gracefulness both she and her sister Leia carried with them. It was rare for someone who was sick have silvery-hair, and it was the first time he'd seen someone like her. His face slowly reddens up the more he looks at her. She was really pretty, thought Kazuki shyly.

Kusanagi, who was standing directly behind Kazuki, noticed that he was staring at the young Freya who looks about the same age as he is. He nudged Yuuto, who was standing beside him to look at Kazuki. He grinned widely when he saw Kazuki blushes and nudged back Kusanagi, planning to do a trick on Kazuki.

Unfortunately for Kazuki, he had made a big mistake by choosing to stare at her instead of looking around where he was going, and in a little while, when he was not paying attention to his footings, Yuuto stick out his foot casually and look other way. And that did the trick. Kazuki fall into the trick and landed on the floor flat with a loud bang, which everyone heard and turned around to see him kissing the floor.

Both Yuuto and Kusanagi howled with laughter as Kazuki fell down onto the floor. They thought that it's a funny thing how one of the 7 strongest protectors of the Tokyo Government Building would fall down due to a simple trick played by Yuuto. Their laughter rang around the corridor and broke the tense air surrounding them earlier.

"Ha-ha! Kazuki, it's the first time I've seen you fall down like that!" cried Yuuto, was unable to stand still and supported himself with his arm on the wall.

"Yeah, you're right Yuuto. This IS the first time I've seen him fall down like that. I never knew you would fall into Yuuto's trick that easy! Ha-ha!" exclaimed Kusanagi, who was also laughing his heart out.

Kazuki was turning redder and redder by all the words thrown at him mercilessly, embarrassing him further in front of so many people. It was then Leia walk up to Kazuki and helped him up then they stopped their monkey business, mouth gaping wide open stupidly.

"Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" Leia said quietly and sweetly, brushing the dust off his cloak and checking the visible parts of his body for wounds and scratch. Leia crouch down so a bit so that she and Kazuki stand on the same level of height. She was holding on to Kazuki's hand when Freya trotted abruptly towards her sister and Kazuki. As she was almost the same height with Kazuki, she can look at him clearly without the need to crouch down like Leia did.

Freya looks at Kazuki while Leia check him on for other minor injuries and found out that he had cut himself on his face and had started to bleed a bit. The blood on the cut has dried up and it look as if he had cut himself a long time ago, but just that he hasn't wash and treat it yet. She reached out her hand and touched him gently on his face, which he returned with a flinch.

Kazuki was startled as Freya's small hand reached out to touch his face. He flinched at the sight of her hand and turns red when he found out that she was staring at him with her bog brown eyes. Not that he felt any pain, he was use to it. It's just that her hand appeared out of the blue as he was focusing at Leia, who was checking his hand for any injuries. He had never expected someone like her, who had just fought with Kamui earlier, will be the one who helped him up from the grounds. Although she wears no expression on her face, he can tell that she's a kind but sad lady from her eyes. I wonder why she's sad though, thought Kazuki.

"Does it hurt?" said Freya adorably with her sweet voice and shining brown eyes that bore deep itself into Kazuki's deep blue ones. Awkwardly, he shakes his head in response that indicates his wound doesn't hurt. Slowly and softly, Freya stretched her hands out again and thought the wound gently with her small fingers. She stroked the wound a few times and slowly, the wounds start to disappear right before everyone eyes!

She pulled back her hand and grinned widely at him, while he raised his hand to touch his face gingerly, scanning for the wound that had been there previously before Freya touched them. It was not there, or rather, it was not there anymore. His eyes grow wide like a saucer the more he touches his face, while Freya just grinned wider at Kazuki.

"Y-you're a healer?" stammered Yuuto, while the others just stared at them. Special Siblings huh, thought Kamui.

Special Siblings is wherein a pair of siblings with the same gender possesses opposite powers or personality or both. One can be cruel and heartless, while the other can be kind and gentle. It resembles polar opposite. Just like Kamui and Subaru. Kamuiwas the more aggressive one of the twins, while Subaru was the gentler one in nature. Nataku was the more somber brother, while Kazuki was more to the happy-go-lucky brother. In Leia and Freya's case, Freya was the gentler and caring type of sister. Then Leia will be the one who was heartless then, thought Kamui.

Special Siblings are sometimes found or known to have extraordinary powers. And as always, they're of the opposite kind of powers. Ones power can be used to heal, while the other ones have powers that'll hurt people. But it was rare for Special Siblings to posses both personality and powers, because if the siblings have both the powers and personality, one of them will be followed by Death closely and will die at a very young age. It is very obvious that Freya is the one who bears the Weight of Death between both Leia and herself, because earlier Leia said that Freya was infected with a strange illness that requires a blue poppy to alleviate the pain that the illness caused. But with Death at their trails, Death will surely tries to prevent them from gaining the flowers, thus ensuring that Freya will die at her scheduled date and time.

The Weight of Death takes the form of a chain with symbols and seals over the chain. It can only been seen by Death itself and the wearer of the Weight of Death, who has been marked by Death and whose life is slowly coming to an end. Mortal or ordinary people cannot see the chain, and only those people who are the Special Siblings and those above the Special Siblings are able to see them, but unable to tell others about their existence. Each of the chains ring represent a day of the wearer's life, and each day Death will collect one ring as a token to bring them across to The Realm of the Dead after their life is over. There, they will cross a bridge known as The Bridge of Judgment that is full of soul eating black hounds, and whoever slipped and fall into it will be sent to hell once the hounds finished devouring their soul. Those who make it will be able to grant access to cross The Bridge of Rainbow, which connect directly towards Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

The World Tree is not like any other tree. It has a life in it and can very well speak itself. Here, the tree will give the ones who crossed the Bridge of Rainbow two choices, stay in Yggdrasil forever or reborn. Many choose to be reborn, while some other stayed there and becomes an angel, the guardian of the good. They help those who are adored by God, and will try their best to disturb Death's focus on the one who was adored by God. This is life cycle. One has to be sacrificed to allow the others lived on. And until the time stop flowing, Death will keep their eye on those whose time is nearing its end...


	6. Tale 5: The Knowledge of the Dreamscape

Authors Note: Hi everyone! How's my story? Please leave a comment if you think is good, and please leave a comment if you think there's something I wrote wrong or any ideas you think is nice, perhapsmaybe I'll use it. Pardon me if you think I'm rude, can't help it, haha.

Sorry for the short story. It's not that I don't have time, but I don't have any ideas again for this chapter, so I'll focus on my exams this Thursday first before I wrote again. I promise I'll write it quick but at the same time entertainingwas it entertaining?. And as the request of using beta readers, I have absolutely no idea at how am I going to do it. But I do use the Microsoft Words Grammar check, don't really know whether it'll check my grammar. Sorry for the inconvenience.

My friend once ask me in school why did I deny the fact that I'm the Leia in the story. Well, yuo se, she misunderstood my story a bitwell, quite alot actually. At Prologue, I wrote, :My name is Leia and you are about to hear a story about my memories as a Dream Seer. That is because I'm writing the story based on Leia's point of view. Except for the Prologue, the rest of the chapters I wrote it as usual/normal. I try to change my grammar a bit. Not that I don't understand English, but it's just that I watch too many movies and read too many novels that I got 'used' to how they speak and thus, ERROR DETECTED.

So, don't want to waste anymore time, I hereby declare my leavefor now out of this site and you may enjoy the story I wrote. Remember one thing, please leave your comment...

Tale 5: Knowledge of the Dreamscape...

They arrived at the guest room later on and start to discuss about where they should stay. Kakyou states that both the dream Seer siblings cannot sleep in a same room or sleep together, as their Seer power will activate during resting time and their souls' can be trapped in the dream world. This can be dangerous to dream Seers as their souls are wandering in the Dream World. If they stay too long in the Dream World, their souls can get weak and will disappear. The only way to get untied from the bindings of the dream world is by having another dream Seer that has no bindings with the Dream World to guide them to the egress.

Each dream Seer had a Dreamscape that belongs only to them. They can come and go as they like, but other Seers will have to seek their permission before they can gain access into the Seer's Dreamscape. A Dreamscape is different from the Dream World. Either the Dream World holds all souls that are in a comatose state or two Seers collided with each other by sleeping together in the same room. The Dreamscapes that a Seer owned is not just an ordinary Dreamscape, but also a Dreamscape with a mind of its own and are able to act in accordance with their Seers, or their Master/Mistress wish. The Dreamscape takes the form out of their Masters/Mistresses most cherished and beloved place in their mind.

A Dream Seer does not always cross the threshold of the Dreamscape. Sometimes they sleep as normal people do and not always dreaming, and sometimes they came into their Dreamscape and witness the future event for those who can see the future and see the past for those who hold the power to the past.

The people who hold the power of the past are not able to see the future. They can only see the past of themselves and others whom they wished. In addition, whilst they are in their own Dreamscape, their souls' will not get trapped in the Dreamscape like when they are in the Dream World. It goes the same as they are in other Seers Dreamscape.

Dream Seers have the power to bring a non-Seer into their Dreamscape. However, while doing this, they have to hold their hands together. Even when they are in the Dreamscape, in reality they are sleeping with their hands holding together. Their hands are unable to get separated while they are in the Dreamscape.

"But the rooms in this building are all occupied. There is non-left. Not one." said Satsuki, who still sometimes throwing the Dream Seer siblings an annoyed look, but Leia ignored her, while Freya does not even realize about it. Silently, both Nataku and Satsuki herself dislike the idea of her living here with them. She was such an eyesore, she thought. If she is not a sorcerer, I am sure I have killed her ages ago.

Sorcerer and those who knows how to wield magic are highly respected here. The higher their skills are, the more respect they will get.

"If there's no room, we can share...," replied Kakyou casually like it was nothing.

Protest exploded right after hearing Kakyou's answers. Kazuki and Nataku protested that their room is too tight for another person to share, and they are boys. Kusanagi and Yuuto said that both of their rooms are 'unfit' for other humans except themselves, while Satsuki appeared flabbergasted. Kakyou kept silent, as he had already told them the taboo of a Dream Seer, so that makes him an exception from the room sharing.

"All right, let me decide it!" said Kamui, silencing the argument. Everyone fall silent when Kamui portrayed his exasperation. Not that they're scared of him, but they follow his orders out of respect, as he had helped them protect the Tokyo Government Building for 3 years.

Kamui first make his appearance in Tokyo 3 years ago. He appeared in a large building, The Tokyo Government Building. The water reservoir beneath the building is been built in secret and guarded by the six Knights so that no one from the Tower will discover it. At first Kamui was being misunderstood as a water thief, but he was so strong that no one could stand up against him to capture him. Many guards are send subsequently to hold him back, but they were like nothing to him. The ones who protected the Tokyo Government Building suffered many casualties. The situation at that time worsened and they called the six Knights over.

At that time, Kamui was in a kind of chaotic state. It was as if he were a lost child. Even after he stopped being hostile towards the Knights, he still did not speak much with them. He told them that he would stay here and protect the underground reservoir with them. He had been doing that ever since then. He earned the respect of everyone as the Prince who protected the underground reservoir.

"Leia will share a room with Satsuki, and Freya will share a room with me-"

"NO!" blurted Satsuki. Everyone stared at both Satsuki and Kamui. It was extraordinarily rare for Kamui to give his support in inviting others to live with them and become a Source, and things turned out to be rather fishy as Kamui was willing to offer up his room to share with a...kid?

"I will NOT share my room with her!" blurted out Satsuki. She was very angry at the fact that she had to share her room with someone she hates. Voice raised in an angry manner, she continued, "Just because I am the only woman Knight here and she is, also a woman doesn't mean that she had to share a room with ME! I'd rather share a room with a kid than-"

"Deal," exclaimed Kamui.

Kamui interrupted Satsuki's raging outburst in mid sentence and caused her mouth to hang wide open in speechless words. Eyes widen in astonishment, she said in a disbelief voice, "What?"

Kamui had cunningly tricked her into saying that she is willing to share a room with a kid in an unexpected way. Satsuki was not an easy woman to be trick and is certainly not a fun person. She was a very careful woman and had lived through hardship based all on her intelligence and personality in not believing people whom she had doubt. Everyone had a weakness, and so are Satsuki. She was very careless when she is displaying her anger through words. Moreover, this time, her own words had failed to keep her room to herself.

"I will not repeat my words for the second time. You have admit it to yourself in front of everyone here that you'll rather have the kid than her..." said Kamui quietly and calmly while glancing at Leia's direction, meaning the 'her' in his words is Leia.

"B-but, I-I just said-" stammered Satsuki.

"You just said," Kamui interrupt again. "You had rather share a room with a kid. Now, am I to be understood that you intend to defy my orders?"

Speechless, Satsuki had no choice but to nod her head in agreement that she will share her room with Freya. Jumping gleefully, Freya trotted towards Satsuki and stopped in front of her. Because she was small, she had to hold her head high so that she can see Satsuki's face. Flashing to Satsuki her most brilliant smile, she bowed down in a formal way and said out aloud, "Pleased to meet you! From now on, we will be roommates! Please take care of me from now on!"

Leia sighed at her sister's deed, Kamui shake his head, Satsuki rendered speechless, and the rest laugh out aloud. Freya straightened herself and displayed a look of confusion on her face, wondering what on earth had caused them to laugh.


	7. Tale 6: The Rooms

Author's Note: Hi! Sorry everyone for the long wait Finally, a Tale 6which I see doesn't rezlly looks good at all is submitted! HAHAHA ahaha haha eh-em... let's...er...move ON!

First of all, I'd like to say something to Rosie. 1, I really appreciate those comments you gave me earlier. It helped me realize my errors that I really have many grammar mistakes. When I changed the settings of my spellchecker, it really shocked me that I had actually wrote soooo many mistakes! I really appreciate your help, REALLY! And I do wish in the future if you have time you would write a comment for my stories, just in case I have anymore grammar mistakes. And I'm not at all irritated at your comment, in fact, I'm very happy someone is willing to leave a comment! That means you're reading my story! Thank you!

And for those reading this now, thank you for your supportI think so...! Sorry for the plain name of the title of this chapter, can't think of anything else, hehe

I'd like to explain something in this chapter. Angy, you once told me not to make Leia so perfect right? But now is not the time for her to be, how do you put this, not perfect. But later on, later on I promise to make her, well, a bit, not perfect. I PROMISE! SWEAR TO GOD!

P.S: I will never, ever, go angry with someone who gave me a comment. In fact, I'm flying over the moon when I'm writing this! I can't stop smiling. Don't think I'm crazy though, but I'm really happy someone is willing to take notice of my stories, since this is the very first time I've decided to submit my 'work of art' to fan fiction. Hope those who like KamuixFuuma wouldn't get mad at me, because I'm a, what do you call it, straight. My friend once forced me to read and watch yaoi manga though, and I fainted at the sight of them. Can't help it, because I don't want to 'spoil' the good image of my favorite character in my heartanimated cry

Tale 6: The Room...

Leia followed Kamui quietly behind him. Her eyes seemed to stare ahead of Kamui, feeling nothing and wear no expression on her face.

Kamui kept his pace and thought about just now. When he announced that Freya is to share a room with Satsuki while Leia with him, she stayed calm and cool, sort of feeling nothing about sharing a room with him. She said nothing and kept her cool expression on without fail, making him think a lot about her, as he had never seen a woman like her. He had always thought that women is only a frail creature that is unable to protect themselves, always hoping for a prince riding in a white horse to save them from their misery. Women had always given him those glances to which he loathes greatly, and like always; he turned them down by ignoring them. However, this time, it was different.

He admitted to himself that Leia is the second person that had unconsciously captured his heart. The first is someone who looked exactly like her. Sadly, he never got the chance to tell her his feelings; on top of that, she is the Phoenix Princess whom is responsible for the safety of the world by producing a barrier extracted from her power and strengthened entirely out of her existence. If he takes her as his bride, the world will collapse and all the existence there will perish. In addition, she does not realize he likes her.

As for Leia, there is just something not right about her. There is an air of superior surrounding her, like an invisible wall, protecting the core from harm. Not just that, she was incredibly strong for a woman like her. He had never seen a woman so strong in his whole life. All those things about her just makes Kamui thought about one thing. Is she really a human?

Stopping in front of a magnificently crafted door, he slide open the door and went in first before allowing Leia to come in. What greets Leia behind the door is an amazingly beautiful room with two beds, each situated by the wall. The room was not big and yet not small. It was just nice for two people. There is a large window situated at the seemingly occupied bed adorned with white sheets and bedspread. The windowsill is wide, and it enables one to sit on it while looking out to the view outside the window. The view through the window was like usual, full of uneven earth and large boulders littering the once astonishingly beautiful land of Tokyo.

The other bed that situated directly in front of Kamui's bed was also white, judging from the neat cover; it seems that nobody has used that bed yet. Putting down her things by the bed, she walks over to the edge of the window and stares for a while at the view that greeted her. Turning around abruptly, she asks, "Can I open the window?"

Kamui gave her a nod as his answer. In fact, he was quite surprised that she chooses the window as the first thing she touches in this room. Usually for a girl at her age, they will check for the bed whether it was comfortable or not, if they are not, they will request for a change of mattress. If they are unable to change a mattress, they will then try to act as if they do not mind at all, but later on, they will throw their tantrum in their room, messing up and throwing everything available, cursing loudly. Because earlier he had told them that the room was not like ordinary room, even if you make a very loud noise nobody would hear you. That was a bluff.

A sudden gust of wind and a fragrant smell alerted him. He looks up only to find Leia had already opened the window wide, with her long jet-black hair flying elegantly in every direction. Both of her hand perched softly on the windowsill, enjoying the breeze with her eyes closed. Then it occurred to him that there was this unique smell coming from her. It was not perfume for sure, thought Kamui, breathing in deeply the unknown fragrant smell, and furrows his eyebrows, trying to think about what fragrance it is.

"Orchid." Leia said suddenly. Startled, he opened his eyes only to see her still in her previous position, both hands on the windowsill.

"It was the smell of Orchid, a kind of flower grown only in tropical weather once. I can't seem to wash the fragrance away though...," explained Leia.

Kamui was starting to suspect she had a mind reading power, which enables the possessor to read or hack into other people's mind whenever they want. Determined to test her, he set up a little trick for her.

"How do you know I was going to ask?" said Kamui, eyes narrowing over her, as she gradually turning around to face him with one of her hand resting on the windowsill.

"That expression of yours explains all." Leia answered. Continuing, she spoke in a softer tone, "Everyone asked the same question whenever I was around. I'm just used to it, that's all..."

She is not a mind reader, thought Kamui. A mind reader is usually a very proud person. They take pride in knowing everything around them, and always work as a blackmailer, blackmailing everyone that has something they want. However, Leia only shows her solemn face and cold eyes, quite the opposite of a cheerful and gentle person. However, there is something that is bothering Kamui.

There was never a breeze this gentle and cooling around Tokyo. It was always associated with dusts and rotting smell from the corpses around Tokyo. Even so, it was always a rough and strong one. It had swallowed the gentle and cooling breeze that everyone remembered and become the well-known acid rain that corrodes everything it touches. Not to mention about those mutated creatures the acid rain created. Those vicious creatures are famous for hunting in groups. There was usually a nest somewhere in Tokyo, where the land lay barren with no large boulders. They take the shape of a large mutated earthworm with rows razor sharp teeth. It is easy to kill and slaughter, as it had no defense armor or claws like the other more dangerous creatures. This was one of the food sources in Tokyo, which one had to neutralize the poison contained in its body.

There was another door in the room. Knowing what is that room, Leia ignored it.

The room was obviously a bathroom, or toilet, or possibly both. In such room there is one bathroom, so that means every Knights have their own room and bathroom, of course a more special room is reserved for the Prince. The room was larger, more comfortable and a window with a wide windowsill that has the view of the whole Tokyo. The bathroom is also more spacious. The Prince and the Knights have their control over this floor of the building and the marked this floor as a private floor, which only the Prince and the Knights resides. On this floor, they can have a view over Tokyo, thus guarding any intruders that might possibly try to sneak into the Tokyo Government Building at the brink of dawn. Those intruders might think that everyone in the Tokyo Government Building might still be asleep and they might get a chance to steal the water. From the second they step into the building, they never get the chance to get out of the building.

The sound of several footsteps walking on the tatami alerted both Kamui and Leia. Both turned around to find a Satsuki and Freya, Leia's sister standing beside the door of Kamui's room. Freya was flashing her most brilliant smile and, running to her sister with her hands spread wide, she cried loudly, "ONEE-SAMA!" and fall into her sister's open arms, once again surprising everyone in the room with her high pitch voice. Smiling faintly, Leia said, "Having fun?"

"Yes! Thanks for asking, Onee-sama! Satsuki-san was very nice to me! I like her!" answered Freya to her sister, who had to crouch down so that Freya can speak to her without the need of craning her neck, while Satsuki flinched when Freya said she likes her. That makes her thought of the events just now...

Satsuki brought Freya to her room, without even helping her to carry her things. Freya kept silent all the time and only displayed a smile on her face. This time Freya did not trot, but instead walk gracefully as if a girl should. Freya only behaves childlike in front of her sister, while in front of others she behaved well. Leia had taught and trained Freya how to behave, and Freya had learned everything her sister taught her obediently.

After the long silence, they arrived in front of a room with a wooden plat with a carved name beside it.

"Satsuki" read Freya.

"What?"

Looked up to see her face and pointing to the wooden plat that carved Satsuki's name, Freya answered, "It has your name on it..."

Looking at the wooden plat, she smirked and opened the door, allowing Freya to come inside the room. Goodness how this little girl can read words that difficult, thought Satsuki.

The room has no bed, but instead an almost empty room with a huge closet, a large window, and a door that obviously leads to the bathroom and a traditional Japanese light on the ceiling. She loves traditional Japan, and it seems like well be sleeping with the Futon a type of Japanese bed on then, thought Freya.

Once scanning around and memorizing everything in the room, she got in and put her things in a corner. Then she started to arrange her clothes in an empty drawer she found in the closet. Satsuki was quite surprised that a girl at her age could do all these things by herself. Maybe the situation forced her to be independent, thought Satsuki. When Freya had finished arranging her clothes neatly in the drawer, she stands up and walks towards Satsuki.

"Satsuki-san, I had finished arranging my clothes. Can we go see Onee-sama?"

This girl understands about good manners huh, thought Satsuki. Children her age these days are very lively and cannot seem to stay still for a minute. The lack of open space for them to play and run around had somehow made them a bit more aggressive than normal children do. They cannot leave the Tokyo Government Building alone without a guardian beside them. Children are very precious to the people as they are the future's hope.

Sighing, Satsuki walk towards the door and slide it close, leaving Freya behind her. Freya was unable to 'translate' her actions and stay where she was, all the time staring at Satsuki's back.

Feeling something amiss, Satsuki turned around and found that Freya still stands where she was a minute ago. Irritated, she exclaimed loudly, "Are you coming or not?"

Finally getting the hem of the situation, Freya smiled and trotted happily towards Satsuki. Together, they walk their way towards Kamui's room, and which from outside they heard the sound of windows sliding open...

Smiling to her warmly, Freya wrapped her arms around Leia. Closing her eyes and breathes in her sister's unique fragrance, she said to Leia, "But don't worry Onee-sama, no matter how much I like a person; I still like Onee-sama best..."

Moments later, Kusanagi, Yuuto, and Nataku showed up at Kamui's doorsteps. Nataku was wearing his usual stoic expression and paid no attention to both Leia and Freya, which the both of them had their hands over each other. Kusanagi and Yuuto both smiled towards Freya, who was looking at both of them with her adorable face. When she caught both of them smiling towards her, she smiled back as a sign of respect. She is very cute, thought the both of them unconsciously. Leia sure is lucky to have a sister like her, thought Kusanagi.

Once, Kusanagi had had a very young sister, whom barely looks older than Freya does. He had loved her dearly and cared for her after their parents died. His sister knows that Kusanagi loves konpeitou, a kind of sweets that uses a lot of sugar, which makes it very rare and expensive. The process of making one usually takes seven to 10 days, as they are handmade. She wants to buy it for him, and ended up been hit by an unknown car that took flight upon hitting her. Until today, Kusanagi still carried around a pendant that his sister loved very much. That is why he adored little children, because they remind him of his beloved sister.

"Tell me, why are all of you here?" said Kamui suddenly. All of them sort of received an electric shock and stopped everything they are doing at that moment. Yuuto cleared his throat before he starts speaking, apparently, he tried to make it sounds more informal, but the otherwise happened...

"Kamui, we should go now..."

"Yeah, our food supplies are running low...," continued Kusanagi.

Kamui did not give any response to them, instead, he merely nodded that signifies he is ready, and they were all scattered at once to prepare for the hunt. All but one-person remains standing where he was from before.

"Why are you still here," exclaimed Kamui, "Nataku?"

End of Tale 6: The Room


	8. Tale 7: The Blood Worms

Authors Note: Sorry for the late upload! Why? Well, I was sitting in front of my computer, hands on the keyboard, but nothing came up on my mind. That's why. And there's another reason. I've received a review from a KamuixFuuma fan, and the comment he/she written has been on my mind when I write this story. I was thinking whether I should just delete this story or kept on writing it. But, I couldn't make up my mind. It'll be a waste if I just delete it, but then, but then... AIH!

In this story, the appetizer has been written out. Freya was a mystery, Leia was a mystery, and nobody has known that Kamui was a vampire yet. Subaru too will appear on the next next next next next, err... maybe, next next chapter. New characters are coming out soon.

And by the way, what's an OC?

Please tell me...Enjoy

**Tale 7: The Blood Worms... **

Nataku kept silent and did not answer Kamui's question, instead furrow his brows deeper out of irritation. It seems like he has some discomfort in his... mind, thought Leia. Moreover, what she thought about others turns out to be true.

Unable to keep silent anymore, Nataku blurted out the truth, "Isn't she supposes to come with us?"

The room went silent at once. Freya gaped at Nataku for a while before shaking her head, trying to get a grip on herself. He must have gone crazy for saying these to Kamui, thought Freya. Doesn't he know Kamui hates people instructing him?

Freya knew things about Kamui more than anyone else did. He hates conflicts, he hates hot or spicy food, he hates Fuuma, and most important of them all, is he loves his brother, Subaru more than anything in the world, at least for now. He was waiting for Subaru to wake up from his mysterious sleep, and while waiting, he protected the place he sleeps, unconsciously becoming one of the protector and guardians of the Capital of Water. She saw his past, future, and she knew what will happen next, and had decided that she will do something in order for that future to come true.

"Onee-sama," spoke Freya suddenly. "I should be going back to my room now! Thank you for the warm cloak Onee-sama! I'll see you later!" Placing a kiss on Leia's cheek, Freya trotted towards the door and stopped in front of Nataku. She placed her gaze on him and smiled at him, which he ignored her. Sadly, I cannot watch the progress between you people, thought Freya. Walking further towards the door, she stopped her tracks again. Turning her head around slowly, and this time she placed a glance over Kamui. It was not an ordinary gaze, but a gaze with intention. Kamui caught her gazing at him and giving him a kind of gaze that he knew very well what it means. There is something not right about this girl, thought Kamui.

Once Freya was out their sight, Kamui face Nataku again and speak, "What do you mean by that?"

Nataku was speechless. He did not dare to look up at Kamui's face, afraid of the fact that his cold amethyst eyes are killing him. He was never this afraid to others, but it was weird how Kamui was able to emit a strange air around him. He is strong, beautiful, and the air of superiority that he carried around him was able to make anyone cower before him if he wants to.

Not wanting to squash the peace between and among the Knights and himself as the Prince, he dismissed this matter as a childish attempt to judge someone wrongly and ignored him. Not that he does not want to his answers, but it is just that he had somehow predicted what he will say if he continue to press him. Nataku was actually a very gentle soul, but it is just that he does not know how to interact and socialize with people, especially newcomers. He does not display his gentleness in gentle ways, instead he hide it deep within his heart.

"Leia, since you're new here, I want you to follow us to the hunt. And judging by your words earlier, I believe you would have seen those creatures..." asked Kamui. Since she had said she was searching for something here, it would means that she has already encountered them before, thought Kamui.

After a long pause, Leia gave Kamui her answer, "I'll go." Standing up and picked up her cloak, which Freya had given her back when none of them is noticing, she continued, "It's not like I've never seen them before..."

The hunting is usually carried out on rainy days or after a rain, as the rain soften and moisten the dry earth and makes the prey easier to lure them out from their nest. The creatures they are hunting are famously known as the Blood Worms due to their monstrous lust for blood, be it human or another mutant creature that is different from their kind. The Blood Worms hunt based on sound gravity and not of smell. They track their victim and try to make them go to a corner before killing them off with their poisonous fangs. They are a very poisonous creature, but once the poison inside their blood neutralized they will become an edible food, and their meat can be stored for a very long time. It is fine in every aspect, except for the taste of it.

Kusanagi, Yuuto, and Nataku each have their own transport to ride. It was still raining when they left the Tokyo Government Building towards the Nest of Blood Worms. Leia had changed her tight corset into a black cotton shirt with long sleeves, while her blood red skirt and leather black boots stayed as it is. Her long dark ebony hair pulled back into a tight bun using a plain and yet exotic chopstick carved out of black wood with designs sank deep into the wood itself. The ornament hanging from it gave a slight sound of jingle when the wind blew at it, making Leia look and sound less scary.

However, what makes the situation weirder is that Leia was sitting right behind of Kamui, hiding her face deep in his back with her eyes shut tight out of dizziness, which was very warm, a fact that Leia cannot deny. Her long fingers burrowing deep into his waist, holding on to him for fear of falling off. Kamui was controlling the transport a little faster than before, making his passenger dangerously wobble from side to side when he made a turn. He wants, actually, to see her in this state, as if silently teasing her as the starter of his appetizer. Things are just going to get delicious... thought Kamui in a sly way.

The rain stopped pouring right after they have arrived at the broken road of Tokyo. The road spilt into two after some Blood Worms destroyed it, making it quite impossible for others to cross the road without the need of passing by directly the Nest. Once they have stopped their transport, Leia came down from Kamui's back shakily, ended up falling on all four on the ground, and accidentally scraped herself on her hand without even a cry of pain. I hate going on long journey...thought Leia. Leia hated and feared long journey at the sound of them being mentioned,

"Are-are you all right?" said Kusanagi, who was offering his concern to her as she seems to got a good fright from Kamui's driving tactics. Due to the fact that her hands was bleeding, she doesn't want them to know that she injured herself, and stands up on her own without Kusanagi's help.

"Thank you for your concern, I'm quite fine...," said Leia kindly to Kusanagi. The way she spoke to him makes him look less awkward in taking back his hand. Maybe she is just being strong, thought Kusanagi, and thus making him admire her even more of her strong personality.

"Quite fine means you're not fine then?" said Kamui suddenly, startling both Kusanagi and Leia. Kamui walks toward Leia after he jumped down from his transport and stopped right in front of her, staring deeply into her dark cherry red eyes. Before she knew it, Kamui grabbed her injured hand, which she had hidden inside her blood red cloak and held it out in front of him. Blood already started to bleed from her hand, which is dirty from coming into contact with the dusty ground.

Growing hot on the face, Leia snatched her own hand back from Kamui's tight steel grip. Starting in an awkward and stammering voice, she said, "It-it's none of your business..." and turned around, blushing brightly. A man had never touched her other than her father and her brother, whom both had died years ago in their village. Leia is not afraid of men, but only their touch made her shyness surfaced unexpectedly.

Ignoring her shyness, Kamui grabbed her hand and despite the entire attempt to make him loose his grip on her, he managed to make her sit on the transport. Not wanting to make the situation worse, Leia swallow her embarrassment and anger silently and refuses to look at Kamui, whom sneered at her while she was not looking. Kamui cleaned her hand with clean water and removed sharp stones from her wound. She did not even flinch or show any emotion of pain in her face, which made Kamui admire her more. So she got used to the pain, great work, thought Kamui. Not many people can get use to pain, and apparently, Leia managed to do it. How does she have done it, Kamui might already have some answers to it already...

Kamui bandaged her hand with a white clean cloth and tied the end of the cloth rather securely around her wrist. All the time Leia was staring into nothingness, at least that is what Kamui thought. Actually, she was staring at how the city has changed over the years. The acid rain had corroded everything except for the Tokyo Government Building and the Tower. The sand that the strong winds carry buried some part of Tokyo, making it barren. It saddens her to think that the number of the human populace can be count, and places are decreasing year by year. Monstrous mutants created by the acid rain made a nest out of some part of Tokyo, making it harder to reach another destination and thus separating the human populace. Everyday humans die of either fighting with each other or for food. How can the humans continue to live for the future if the situation continues like this? Though Leia sadly.

"What will become of us?" said Leia suddenly, stopping Kamui from letting go of her hand, which he held delicately as it was wounded. Seeing Leia's sadden face, he wondered what she is thinking that made her sad.

"The world is dying; and we can't avoid it. Tell me, what should we do?"

Kamui stared into her eyes deeply, seeing everything she sees. Her sadness reflected in her eyes and it explained what she had hidden deep in her heart. Standing up, Kamui said, "We can never avoid it," Looking into the now buried city of Tokyo, he continued, "But we can do our best to protect it from dying."

Nataku, Kusanagi, and Yuuto all are preparing their own bow, and while doing this, they listened and pay attention t their surroundings, eventually overheard what Leia and Kamui's conversation. The three of them stared at Leia, and realized that they have never seen a girl of her age that sad, and she is not sad about her family, but for the world, which is dying ever so slowly from torturing pollutions. A queer little girl she is, thought Kusanagi. She actually paid attention about the world's fate more than humans, thought Nataku did. While Yuuto thought that Leia was such a lonely and sad girl, overcome by grief of her family's death I suppose, thought Yuuto.

Suddenly, a slight earthquake interrupt them, and sensing what made it, Kamui get a hold of his bow and prepared to fire a shot at the long awaited prey. The creature sprang itself out from the earth and prepared to launch an attack over the small group of humans. The creature was no other than the Blood Worms, looking exactly like a mutated earthworm, only larger and more vicious looking.

Taking up their respective bows, all of them fired their arrows at the Blood Worms, only Leia calmly extracted one dagger hidden inside her boots. The Blood Worm wriggle out of pain as its body had already taken in two of the arrows fired. With just one move, Leia released her dagger towards the Blood Worm's weak spot. Green blood spurted out from it disgustingly, the Blood Worm wriggled even more before dropping down onto the earth, dead.

"You got some good skills," Said Kusanagi to Leia, who was still sitting on the transport, looking at the direction where the Blood Worm now lay dead.

"Training," answered Leia, who looked as if nothing has happened on God's forsaken earth. She was used to swords and throwing secret weapons, but she hates bow. It somehow makes her remind of how most of her villagers had died under an arrow shower years ago.

As suddenly as it comes, another slight earthquake shock the earth around them, and this time, another Blood Worm appeared right behind Nataku. To stun to move, Nataku just gulped at the Blood Worm. Without wasting any more time, Leia ran toward Nataku and pushed him aside, just when the Blood Worm launched its attack. Its teeth grazed Leia's porcelain white thigh, and Leia does not seems to notice it. Right hand gripping tightly at nothing and slowly, the blood that Leia bleed earlier solidified and becomes a long crimson red sword. Running toward the Blood Worm, Leia slashed at the Blood Worm from downward to upward, severing its head.

It was all so quick. In a blink of an eye, the Blood Worm lay dead with its head dangling from the few cords that supported its head. Green liquid thickening into a pool and burned the surface of the road.

"Amazing," said Kusanagi, witnessing for the first time in his life a person holding a blood red sword that belonged to none other than the Blood Princess. The Blood Princess, whom the people who have ever encountered her described her as the most powerful woman and a person that made entirely out of cool and calm traits, and is not entirely human due to her strange power. I am wondering does her title come from the sword, thought Yuuto.

More concern in comrade than prey, Leia ran towards Nataku, asking, "Are you alright, Nataku?"

Nataku looked up at Leia the moment he heard his name mentioned and saw that Leia injured herself on the thigh. Blood bleeding slowly on the cut and since the Blood Worm was a creature created by the acid rain; naturally, any part of their body will become acidic. The Blood Worm managed to sank its teeth deep enough to leave the acid in her wound and now the wound started to burn. What is worse is, the injuries on her hand started to bleed again, with blood soaking through the white cloth that Kamui bounded earlier, dyed it crimson red. Feeling remorse, Nataku asks Leia without looking at her, "Your wounds, don't they hurt?"

Casting a glance at her now bleeding and burning thigh and both of her bleeding hands, she replied casually, "Nope. Not a bit."

Dropping their head, Kusanagi and Yuuto thought together, is she an immortal?

Suddenly Leia sensed something, a feeling that has long not appeared in her mind. This feeling belonged to the one person that she understood more than anyone else did in the world, and somehow she hated this person.

"What is it, Leia-san?" asked Nataku when he sees Leia's face expression changed drastically. Just a second ago, she was in her usual mood, not smiling and at the same time, not revealing any emotions. Now her face shows signs of anger that contrasted greatly with her honorific title, the Blood Princess.

It was then the small group of human noticed someone else besides themselves and the corpses of the Blood Worms in that area. That person has long billowing midnight blue cloak and long shiny ebony black hair that ran past her waist, exactly the same length with Leia's hair. Her porcelain white skin shines radiantly and pout lips that shame the red, red rose, sapphire blue eyes staring down at them, seeing through everything and everything. She wore a flowing robe of frilly blue Lolita style dress, with white frills at the end and a blue tulip in her dark long hair. With long blue stocking that has white frills at the top and a pair of Lolita blue heels, she looked EXACTLY like Leia, except for the eyes color and the outfit.

Smiling sweetly, she said, "Ara? Leia-Onee Sama? How are you? Long time no see. Have you changed yourself...since that time?" She was balancing herself on a light pole high up in the air right on the opposite side of the road, which enables her to see everything clearly. Long dark hair billowing in the wind, she emitted a very strange smell that Kamui noticed since she appeared. Not flowers, but kind of smelled like...metal?

Turning around to greet the mysterious girl, Leia glared angrily and coldly at her. She recognized who the mysterious girl is, and called out to her name, "Krai."


	9. Tale 8: The Two Who Are Intertwined

Author's Note: Hello everyone!! Having some surprise from the precious chapters? Well, here's some surprises as well.

I've made a wonderfully kind friend here, her name is Kiminochi. She is a very very veeeery kind and generous in offering advises. And hereby I announce, Kiminochi, You're my good and kind friend!

Sorry if there's any spelling errors, and sorry if I can't satisfy your curiosity. Maybe some of you have figured out who is Krai, and maybe some of you not yet. This is the chapter where the answer towards 'who is Krai' lies! Secrets are meant to be told slowly, and no secrets, no mystery. No mystery, no story

And note this, the title of this chapter doesn't necessarily meant Leia and Krai... It can also mean the fate of Kamui is starting to get intertwined with Leia's fate...

Enjoy

**Tale 8: The Two Who Are Intertwined...**

The sound of the wind howling in Leia's heart can almost been heard clearly. There was never a time she does not get mad when she saw this person. This person's image had long imprinted itself on Leia the moment she set foot on God's green earth, sealing it deep in her heart. She had searched for this person since the death of her dear mother, the one who gave her life and love. Blood trickling from her wounds on both of her hands and thigh, which she no longer feels the pain. Instead, her heart stirred until the point of boiling in rage and unexplainable fury.

"It's amazing how Onee-sama can always remember me, while I always forgot Onee-sama. Why thought? I wonder...why?" said the mysterious maiden whose name is Krai, glancing towards everyone with the look that Leia knows very well, hunger.

Everyone was shocked with Krai who was the mirror image of Leia. Leia glares at her hard and cold, while Krai look at her with a smile on her face.

"W-what is this all about?" stammered Kusanagi, apparently taken aback with both Leia and Krai.

"A mirror image? Is she real?" said Nataku, who was also shocked with both Leia and Krai. He has never seen someone that look so alike in many aspect. It may be possible for someone to look alike in the past 10 years, but now it is quite the impossible among the impossible.

Kamui has something on his mind since Leia and Freya appeared. Now his questions for Leia had added due to the appearance of this mysterious girl known as Krai. First is Freya's strange attitude, especially that smile when she leave his room. That smile is not an ordinary smile. Second is Leia. When she first came, her attitude is very cold and icy, but when he touched her hand, she turned bright red and talk as if she is another person, very different from the one when she first came. Third is none other than Krai herself. That name seems not to be an ordinary name. Krai...Krai...it sounds like 'Cry', thought Kamui.

Just as he thought about the unsolved questions that kept piling up in his head, Krai jumped down from the light pole suddenly, in which it startled everyone. The distance between the earth and the top of the light pole is surely not a short distance. Anyone trying to make a jump from there could possibly end up lying in a pool of blood. In other words, any human who does that jump means they are going to a one-way trip to hell. However, in this case, it was different.

Krai jumped down from the light pole easily as if it was a game and smiled sweetly as the wind she made by jumping from that high makes her frilled Lolita skirt billowing in the wind and her hair merged with the wind. Landing down on earth smoothly, Krai adjusted her hair and skirt before opening her eyes, showing off her blue as sapphire eyes to everyone.

"Ara ara, Leia Nee-sama, you seems to have some friends...Why don't you introduce me to them?" said Krai leisurely while hopping from place to place, eventually leaped across the great distance between the place she stands and the place where Leia was. Crouching down when she landed safely at the other side of the road with her long dark hair trailing behind her like a great black veil, she stands up elegantly and looked at everyone with her blue eyes.

"Nanda kore? A Bigfoot, an old man, and a moldy face? What funny friends you have here, Nee-sama," said Krai, insulting Kusanagi, Yuuto and Nataku while pointing at each of them with her slender fingers. While doing this, everyone can see clearly that her fingernails are long, sharp, and red in color, almost blood-like. Laughing childishly, Krai covered her blood-red lips with her fingers. The instant she put her fingers and her lips together, Kamui thought of something that cannot possibly be true, the color of her fingernails and her lips are as red as blood...

"Get yourself out from my view before I make you unrecognizable, Krai!" said Leia sternly in a full-of-hatred tone. Clearly, Leia hated Krai very much. Leia had never get angry until this state to anyone else, but somehow Krai managed to make Leia this angry by simply appearing in front of her, flashing to Leia her most brilliant and sweet smile.

"You are definitely Leia Onee-Sama! You're still so straight-to-the-point!" said Krai while thrusting her hand into the air like a child imitating an airplane. Laughing like a child again, she dances around and around the place until her gaze fell on Kamui, the only one she had not notice earlier. Stopping her dance, she stared at Kamui, who stared her back with his amethyst eyes.

"Now, Nee-sama, that was a cute friend of yours...," said Krai, hopping towards Kamui with a grin over her beautifully formed face.

In a flash, Krai disappeared from the very spot everyone was staring a second ago. This has finally taken the toll out of everyone.

"What in the world is she made from? And who does she mean with Bigfoot?" said Kusanagi, anger slowly rising at the impudent little mysterious girl who just insulted everyone with names, and somehow he felt that the 'Bigfoot' she mentioned was him.

"Did you see how she jumped from that distance? That was a scary person man. She even disappears right in front of us!" said Yuuto, expressing his shock to the still burning Kusanagi.

"The one thing I know is that she's no God...," exclaimed Nataku. He was not shocked from the fact that she can jump from one place to another place that separated by a great distance. In fact, he was more shocked that the mysterious girl named Krai looked EXACTLY like Leia from top to toe. They have the same hair, same speed, same height, same face, the only difference lies in their outfit, personality, and eyes color. If he was right, this could only mean that they are...

"Can I eat you?" said a sudden voice looming behind them. All three of them turned around just in time to see Krai's' back facing them, while Leia stands in front of her, blood red sword guarding Kamui from Krai's reach.

"Keep your distance from him, Krai! He's not your food, and you're not going to have him!" growled Leia dangerously as her grip on the sword hilt grown tighter; eventually blood starts to bleed from the wound she got earlier when she fall down, the crimson stain on the white cloth that Kamui bounded around her hand tightly earlier grows enormously large as the clock ticked.

"Well, I will," said Krai, trying to convince her sister that she meant no harm, but deep inside her heart, she is actually thinking what people thought she wouldn't think. She appeared right before Leia when she dropped her guards and with the help of her lightning speed, she managed to grab a bunch of her hair and continue, whispering into her ear, "after my dead body."

Leia swung her sword at Krai who was holding her hair and staring at Kamui all the while. Without removing her stare from Kamui, Krai jumped into the air easily and chased by Leia with her Blood Sword, the name of the very sword she is holding.

Out of nowhere, a light reflection caught itself in Leia's eyes and blinded her for a moment. Seizing her chance, Krai pulled at Leia's hair and slashed it using a knife she materialized out from the pool of acid water on the ground, sending Leia's beautiful long locks of hair flying in the wind. With a swift movement of her hand, she twisted the very knife that cuts Leia's long locks deep into her thigh. This time, Leia winced in pain. The acidic solution that was hardened with Krai's power turns into liquid the moment it sank into her flesh, burning her inner flesh painfully. It was a miracle how she managed not to scream in pain, but merely winced.

Smiling satisfying, Krai took hold of some of Leia's hair and disappeared, leaving eight strangely dressed and masked humans in her place that appeared out of nowhere.

"We obey Krai-sama's orders and will not fail her. Leia Hikari, you must die." All of the eight strangely dressed human speak in chorus, as if they have practiced repeatedly until it was perfect. Without wasting anymore time, one of them lifted a sword in his hand and charged at Leia. Leia was slightly dazed at the loss of blood; nevertheless, she returned the blow to the one who attacked her equally.

Leia slapped the person who first charged at her with a sword hard across the face with the back of her hand, forcing the sword out from his hand by using her fingers to claw at the person's face. Blood sprayed onto Leia's cloak and onto the road, staining some of the clear acid water with blood. Jumping into the air, she snatched the sword that was thrown earlier into the air and somersaulted, head now facing downward while her lower body facing the sky. The second person that stands right beside the first person who attacked Leia seeing that she was in the air and possibly unable to move, he takes his chance and threw a sword at her, which she caught easily in her hand and threw it back at him, which he caught with his abdomen.

Landing smoothly, Leia slashed at the third person and moved on to the next victim, leaving him dying out of blood loss. Walking towards a group of three people who stands close to each other, Leia finished them with just two blows, severing their hands and part of their abdomen. She done all of this without an emotion on her face. It was as if she felt nothing at all when she killed all these people, thought Nataku. It was one thing being a legendary Blood Princess, but a person without an emotion is going too far.

The remaining two assassinator leaved Leia and proceeds to kill her comrade, in this case, it is Kamui, who stands the nearest to Leia. The two of them was getting closer and had prepared their swords by lifting them high up into the air, charging at Kamui. Suddenly, they stopped in mid-air. Gasping for their final breath, their body parts, which Leia severed from behind in just a matter of a second, dropped helplessly like a pile of bat droppings, leaving blood sprayed into the air.

Heaving a sigh, Leia stared at all the corpses around her. When she was killing them off one by one, the sky grows a bit dark as there was a cloud blocking the sunlight from reaching the earth. Now the clouds have moved the lights came back shining on the barren earth of Tokyo again, only a slight change of color around the area where Leia stands.

Bright red blood dyed the road and Leia is drenched in blood. Staring around, she found out that there is one more victim left alive, trying to wriggle towards his sword. Walking towards him slowly, Leia stopped right in front of his hand and dropped her sword directly above his heart, killing him instantly.

"Why did you DO this, LEIA?" cried Nataku. He had never seen someone killing others so easily and acts very calm about it like it is nothing out of the ordinary. Earlier, he had started to believe that Leia is not as bad as he thought so, but after he seen her done this in front of everyone without worries, he started to doubt her whether she is a human or not.

Turning around to look not at Nataku but Kamui, she saw that he was the same as he is; nothing changed his expression or his mood. Feeling somehow glad, she looked into the faraway sky, with a look of someone failed to done his or her mission. Feeling dizziness suddenly overcome her, she knelt down with one knee, scraping it unconsciously.

"Krai...was my sworn enemy...I will kill her...and no one is to stop me...," said Leia, pausing at every sentence to see if there is anyone asking her questions. She felt guilt deep in her heart as she had let them see the real her, a murderer murdering people. However, she has her reasons.

"Those people I've killed...they're not human..."

As she said, the corpses caught on a red flame that devoured their flesh and blood and Kamui understood part of the things that Leia had done. The red flame is no ordinary flame; they are the Flames of Hell that devoured dead zombies, generally known as Touda, one of the Five Great Element of the World. Touda is the element of fire; so naturally, his residing palace is Hell, the Realm of the Fire God. Without anyone knowing a thing about it except for Freya, five other spirits had been following Leia around for quite some time already. Leia was a girl that they adored, and whom they strive to protect. However, Krai knew about their existence and had earlier set a barrier around the place wherein they are not able to enter, being only able to watch helplessly by the barrier.

Krai has created the zombies that Leia killed from the corpses that lies around Tokyo unburied. By using a simple curse that binds itself around the dead body, Krai is able to revive any dead humans, making them zombies that looked exactly like human, except for their everlasting smell of rotten corpse that will never go away. Earlier, Krai's underlings, the zombies when Leia was heading towards the Hill of Serpent that rumored to be the home of the Blue Poppy, attacked her and forced Leia to flee in order to ensure the safety of her beloved sister, Freya.

Walking towards Leia, Kamui stopped his track directly in front of Leia, staring down at her. Leia had collapsed again due to the blood loss from the wound that Krai left earlier with the acidic knife still in her thigh. Trying feebly to pull it out, a hand reached out from nowhere and pulled out the acidic knife in one move, earning Leia's scream of pain. Panting slightly, Leia looked up to see Kamui staring down at her, the bloody knife still in his hand.

"Tell me, Leia. Who is Krai?" asked Kamui in a stern voice. He wanted to know who is Krai, and why does she have the same face as Leia? He knows that Leia knew her, considering the information that Leia stated earlier that Krai was her sworn enemy.

Heaving a sigh again, Leia break off her gaze with Kamui and tries to stand up with her injured thigh; which blood was pouring out like a leaked pipe of arteries. She glance around at everyone, who was also waiting for an answer from her, Leia answered slowly, "Krai is...the other me..."

Kamui started to grows blur in her eyes, and finally, when she cannot stand it anymore, she whispered loud enough for Kamui to hear her last answer before she passed out, "My twin sister..."


	10. Tale 9: The Beginning of Everything

Author's Note: HELLO EVERYONE! Sorry for the late updates, I've been, well... busy these days.

Maybe later on my stories will begin to sucks, that's what I think, but I don't know if you feel like what I feel too, if you get what I mean. I'll update two chapters at once. Heard that? TWO

Once again, I had to thank everyone for your advices, your comments, and of course, your critics. Because of it, I'm able to sense where's my errors and done eveything possible to make it right, and please, don't ask me to stop writing this...  
Thank you Kimonichi and Yui-chan!! You girlscan I use it to address the both of you? have been a really really REALLY great help and a life saver! No, not life saver, it's story saver. Pardon me for any of my spellings or words mistakes. My time here now is 11:05p.m, and I started to get really sleepy, so... Pardon me

Enjoy

Tale 9: The Beginning of Everything... 

"Welcome back! Nataku!" cried Kazuki, who came charging at Nataku with open arms. Nearly tripping on a nearby stone, Kazuki held on to Nataku's cloak, chocking him slightly.

"Kazuki, if you don't pay attention to where you are going, you'll just fall down again..."

"Where are Kamui and Leia? Aren't you guys go together?" asked Kakyou, who was feeling that something is not right. He saw something in his dream earlier and had guessed something must have happened to Leia.

"Oh, Kamui went underground, his usual place. Leia went somewhere. Do not worry about her; she is in the building already. Try search for her upstairs if you want," said Kusanagi, trying to ease Kakyou's obvious worry. It is hard to blame Kakyou's worry over them. The trips that they have taken always surrounded them with untold dangers, acid rain falling almost everyday, not to mention that Kakyou is also a Dream Seer, and possessed the power to see the future.

Since Kamui was in the underground, he was not able to check up on him whether he had seen Leia. Kamui does not like people to disturb him when he was in the underground reservoir. The underground reservoir has somehow become his secret hideout, except that everyone knows about the secret hideout.

Kamui was brushing Leia's hair gently, which was no longer long but short, her head rested warmly against his lap. Never had he allowed other person other than his beloved twin brother, Subaru, to rest on his lap. Somehow, Leia's sleeping face made him feel at peace, and does not have the heart to wake her up. Then he noticed all Leia did when she was sleeping was knitting her brows together and mumbling something like, "Please...stop it...no..."

He can never believe what the other half of Krai just said. What is the meaning of The Key of the Future? What is there have to do with him? It made him think back the time when Leia just collapsed in his arms...

Leia collapsed into Kamui's arms right after she confessed about her relationship with Krai. Everyone was shocked beyond explanation and just stared at both Kamui and Leia. Thinking that Leia had passed out, Kamui slip his hand underneath Leia's leg to lift her up and bring her back to Tokyo Government Building. However, when he was about to lift her, Leia's hand suddenly slapped Kamui's shoulder, stopping him from lifting her up.

"Don't touch Leia..." said Leia. Weird, thought Kamui. Is not she supposed to say 'me' instead of 'Leia'? Why did she say her own name? Just at that time when Kamui was thinking, Leia opened her eyes, revealing black eyes instead of dark cherry red. Kamui sure was not hallucinating. He swore mentally that Leia's eyes was dark cherry red, and not black.

Leia pushed Kamui aside and stands up on her own, wincing at the pain at her thigh. Sighing loudly, she cursed, "What is wrong with you? I told you to be careful with Krai already! Stupid Leia!"

That broke the weird air down around the Knights and the Prince. Did she just scold herself stupid? Thought Yuuto.

"Ouch! Leia, that hurts! Stop it!" added Leia. The face of the people around her was getting weirder and weirder as the moment pass by with Leia talking to herself. Leia was holding her head, brows knitted together as if she had a headache. "All right! I will be nice to them! I promise. Just rest until its time, okay?" said Leia, who appeared to have gone mad and was talking to her.

"Ano..." begin Yuuto, who was quite curious with Leia. Is she aware that she is talking to herself?

"What?" snapped Leia, which Yuuto nearly jumped right out of his skin. He was afraid that Leia would came charging at him with her sword and dissect him into four pieces. This Leia was different from the Leia they first saw. She was livelier and, well, hot tempered. All three of the Knights thought that Leia had just gone mad or something, but not Kamui. This is not Leia, thought Kamui. This is another person...

Kamui took a step towards Leia and started, "Who are you? Where is Leia?" asked Kamui, who knew something the other three does not.

Turning around to meet Kamui, Leia grinned and chuckled. "Not bad, being able to recognize that I am not Leia..."

"WHAT?" cried the three Knights, who was struck dumbfounded when they finally understand the situation.

Picking up the sword that lay on the ground, 'Leia' turns towards Kamui and start explaining, "I am Krai's other self, Odria."

--

Odria and Krai was originally one, but separated and formed two different beings. Mythia, Leia, Odria, and Krai's mother accidentally touched something she should not touch when she was still pregnant. The Hikari clan kept a very dark secret that only the head of the Hikari clan knew about it, and that is the Blood Crystal.

It was 500 years before the Hikari clan started to rule Gurou glow Village. Moreover, it is where the Blood Crystal came from this origin. The Blood Crystal is the blood of a powerful immortal creature, formally known as the Phoenix. It all happens when the ancestor of the Hikari Clan, Rui Hikari, stumbles upon a stunningly beautiful woman who appeared to have sprained her ankle when he went hunting for rabbits in the deep mountain for his wife, Maruya, who was pregnant with their son. It was winter at that time and the weather was terribly cold. Rui Hikari pitied the woman and offered her a piggyback ride home, which she said was located deeper still in the mountain.

What he does not know is that this beautiful woman is actually the Phoenix itself, and was trying to devour him when they arrived at her home. The Phoenix trick people with their beauty and kills them when the timing is right. It detests and hates man, and vows to kill them if they approach it. It had seen many men ran away with other younger and more beautiful woman, leaving their poor and faithful wife at home who thinks that they will come back one day. It saddens the Phoenix how people can change in years, and the fate of the poor wife waiting at home for someone who will never came back home. After witnessing a husband killed his wife mercilessly, the Phoenix revealed itself and killed the husband, thus starting the disappearance of men who went into the forest for woods.

It was almost dark, but Rui have not seen a house or a trace of a village that the young woman described and tell. He was not scared and determined to return the beautiful woman to her home safely. The woman has grown heavier and when he can no longer hold on, he kneeled down on one knee; he panted his words to the Phoenix, who was already raising a hand, ready to deliver the killing blow when Rui asked it, "Are you cold?"

Surprised, the Phoenix stopped and said no. "Then let's get you home..." replied Rui. Never had a man ask her about her condition and may have just walk on forever. However, when the Phoenix's hand touched Rui shoulders, it was quite taken aback when the shoulder it touches was freezing cold. It was snowing heavily, and they even pass by a cave. Yet, Rui did not stop and instead he kept on going and searching for the home of the woman. The Phoenix was touched greatly and revealed its true form to Rui, which takes the form of a large and unique bird coated with sparkling and magnificent fire. Wings spread with pride, the crown the Phoenix wore was a five different colored gemstone, which sounds like bells when it hit each other, and when it uses its voice, it was nothing like a bird's voice; rather, it was a beautiful melody.

The Phoenix granted Rui a drop of its blood and told Rui to go home in one condition, never let others other than the head of his family touch the blood, which had crystallized and formed a Blood Crystal. If someone other than the head of the Hikari clan touches it, the worst of their nightmares will come true.

After 500 years, Mythia, who was the current Lady of the Hikari clan, was wandering around the Hikari resident with her round belly, twins to be precise. Sainishi, her husband and the current head of the Hikari clan, was very much overjoyed and waited patiently for their first child's arrival into the world. She stumbles upon a small dark room underneath a secret trapdoor in the garden that cleverly concealed by bushes of hydrangea when she happens to picks up a hairpin she dropped near the hydrangea. The hydrangea was not like any other hydrangea species, it was in the color of a sea green, almost blue. Curiosity overtaken her mind, she ventured into the trapdoor slowly and carefully, and come across a dimly lit underground room, and in the center of it, lies the legendary Blood Crystal.

The Blood Crystal's origins from the Phoenix's blood, and with it, the family will forever surrounded in good luck and protected from the bad luck. Whoever lay their eyes on it will be draw towards it unconsciously, as the Blood Crystal has certain powers, seeing that its origin is from the Phoenix. Thus, Mythia was unable to control herself and stretched her hands to touch it. Upon touching it, she fainted and collapsed to the floor. Sainishi, who came just in time to see the Blood Crystal, witnesses the downfall of their family's protector, the Blood Crystal. The Blood Crystal absorbed itself into Mythia's belly, and become one with one of the twins.

It was suppose to be a good thing that the Blood Crystal, the protector of the Hikari clan becomes one with one of the twins, which also means the child had become the guardian of the Blood Crystal. However, the result turned out to be unexpected. When the Blood Crystal first absorbed itself into one of the twin's body, it released an unexpected power and separated the other twins into two, and made them the Special Siblings. However, there is some difference. Special Siblings involved only twins and same gender of siblings, never a soul.

The first child of the Hikari clan named Leia, whose eyes takes the color of dark cherry red, body like that of a porcelain doll, and hair as dark as ebony, is obviously the guardian of the Blood Crystal with a beautifully shaped birthmark on the left shoulder. It is in the form of a small bird that looks exactly like the Phoenix flying that Rui Hikari met hundreds of years ago. It will turn crimson red if there is misfortune or danger coming soon. The second child of the Hikari clan named Krai has the same body and hair of her sister, but only a slight different in eyes color. What they not know is that the curse of the Blood Crystal has already taken place inside of Leia's body, and that is in Leia's body, lays another soul.

That soul's name is Odria, the other half of Krai. Nobody seems to know about the existence of Odria, except for her parents of course. They knew when Odria take control of Leia's body, and the only difference between them is that Leia's eyes is dark cherry brown, while Odria's eyes color is black. Odria loved Leia dearly and will do anything to ensure her happiness and safety.

Leia was adored and given anything she wanted by her parents and family. Leia is brilliant at anything she learns. She excels greatly in arts, singing, dancing and playing any type of instrument. As the descendant of the Hikari clan and the guardian princess of the Blood Crystal that makes her almost an equal to the Phoenix, Leia was a gifted sorcerer and Dream Seer, being able to walk into the past was a rarity among the Dream Seers.

As the Guardian Princess of the Blood Crystal, Leia is well protected. Without her protector, Touda, who is one of the Great Gods of the Five Element, Leia was rarely seen walking around. The Great Gods of the Five Elements obey and protected Leia because in her body flowed the blood of the Phoenix, which after the Blood Crystal becomes one with her, it becomes liquid again and flowed in Leia's blood. It is because the Phoenix holds the ultimate control over the Great Gods of the Five Elements, and that is why the Great Gods of the Five Element obey Leia, for they consider her as the second in command of the Phoenix.

Sainishi separated Krai and Leia right after their birth. He foresaw the future that Krai will become evil and cruel, killing everyone mercilessly. Not wanting Leia, the guardian princess of the Blood Crystal to get influence by Krai, Krai was lock up in the very same room that had previously been the home of the Blood Crystal.

The unfortunate day happened four years after Freya's birth, the day when everything in Leia's life changed drastically. 15 year-old Leia happened to stumbles upon the trapdoor that held her twin sister captive. The Great Gods of the Five Elements were away that time for an assignment from the Phoenix and left Leia alone in the garden. She found a hidden room under the trapdoor where Sainishi kept Krai in a room with bars, and this is how Leia and Krai get to see each other face to face. It was dark at that time, and Leia cannot see Krai's face clearly. Krai knew Leia was her more fortunate twin sister, while everyone kept Krai out of existence from Leia. Leia and Krai talked about their lives respectively, and this is how Leia came to pity Krai and decided to let her free.

Sainishi happened to call Leia in for lunch, which Leia departed and said that Krai can venture into her room and wear any clothes in her closet. She promised to keep Krai's existence a secret as Krai had said that everyone hated her. Believing she was telling the truth, Leia left her with ease in her mind.

Right after Krai was freed from her room of bars and torturing memories, Krai proceed to slaughter everyone in the village first before she proceed to enjoy her revenge towards the Hikari clan last. While Leia was left searching for Krai, she found out that everyone in the household was slaughtered, dyed the floors and flowers with crimson red blood.

Just around that time, Leia witnessed a mirror image of herself slaughtered her parents mercilessly, leaving Leia to tremble in her own fear. Krai had set a blazing fire to burn down the Hikari clan's residence and revealed to Leia that she was her twin sister that has been concluded as a stillborn since birth. She tells Leia how she was tortured mercilessly and cruelly by Sainishi, how everyone treated her as nothing more than a punching bag of rotten rag doll, how she asked her own father why she loved Leia more than her and was rewarded with nothing but bruises that heal amazingly fast in hours. And what made her heard becomes thousand of shattered pieces is how cruelly her mother had been to her when she purposely organized a birthday party for Leia and told everyone that Leia is the one and only daughter she is proud of. Krai swore to kill everyone that befriends Leia and left her and Freya as the only ones of the Hikari clan and the village of Gurou left alive.

"Nee-sama wa daisuki(I love Nee-sama)," said Krai dramatically with her childish voice, "demo daikirai datta no(but I also HATE Nee-sama)...hee hee hee..."

Krai left Leia and Freya soon after, sparing them their lives. She felt that their deaths now is not quite equivalent to the sufferings she had had from the day she was born as an outcast of the Hikari clan. Leaving in a smug grin, Krai laughed aloud as she made her way to freedom under the blazing fire that burned down the entire village...

**Like it? Well, if you do, please submit your review to me, if you have time to spare of course. Any confusing questions, please PM me, I'll explain it to you. But I only explain what I can explain to you, coz I don't want to be a spoiler.  
Oh, by the way, there's a song for this chapter. If you guys, and girls of course, are free now, you may go search for this song, BORN by Miwako Okuda. It's the Op of Le Chevalier D'Eon, I love the story**


	11. Tale 10: The Enchanting Water

Author's Note: See? I told you I'm going to update two stories at once. This is to compensate the promise I;ve made to update my stories as often as I could, but I failed at it sob sob

Now, I'm really really tired and sleepy and hungry This is what I get for a high metabolism, the need to eat or chew something every 2 hours. And trust me for God's sake, I'm not fat at all. My friend even nicknamed me as a satey stick. For anyone who doesn't know what's a satey is, it's a Malaysian deliciacy, with small pieces of meat sticked on a stick and roast it on coal, and after it cooked, you can dip it in the satey kuah, which is made of peanuts and a little little LITTLE hot. Gosh, my stomach's growling. Need to search for food before I go to sleep...

Enjoy

Tale 10: The Enchanting Water...

The sound of water lapping ranged in Leia's ears, creating a peaceful and gentle melody that coaxed her to wake up from her never-ending nightmare. The song of water, thought Leia, is beautiful. Even after hearing the sound of lapping water that disturbed her sleep, Leia is still unable to open her stubborn eyes. Her head rested itself snugly on a soft and strangely warm pillow. Raising her arms high enough to bend backward and touch the pillow, she remarked upon it with a weak voice, "How warm...," and run her hands on it a few times, feeling the shape and softness of the pillow. Feeling her arms grown tired with it, she rested her palm on the pillow and went on observing the sound around her.

What catches her ear's attention later is the sound of water droplets dripping into the water underneath it. Finally agreed to lift her long beautiful eyelashes, Leia saw what appeared to be a dream for her.

Enchantingly and ghostly blue lights surrounded a large empty hall that filled entirely with sparkling clear water. Blue and white crystals of water droplets' dancing in the cold cool air before fusing with the water reservoir underneath the large hall created a soft yet magically majestic sound. Pillars that grows as high as the sky supported the high roof that Leia was unable to see clearly with the dim light reflected from the glowing crystal-like water. Reaching out her hand, a drop of water dripped on Leia's opened palm.

"Mizu (water)...?" whispered Leia weakly, which her voice echoed in the huge water reservoir hall, accompanied with the sound of water lapping the side of the concrete building. Leia had seen this beauty in her dreams since she met that person, and that person had shown her everything that she needed to know as someone who wields a sword that no other can wield. That person is the one who teaches Leia how to wield a sword effectively. She had always looking forward to meet that person in her dreams, but not all the time she succeeds in entering that person's dream. The nightmares of her past kept resurfacing and since she was the Dream Seer of the Past, she was not able to stop witnessing the past that kept haunting her. Balling her hand into a fist, she brings her hand to rest on her chest.

All of this is so enchanting, thought Leia. The webs of water waving itself together, forming a crystal of water droplet that shines like glass beads, drawing viewers into its captivating lair. Leia loved them, but at the same time, feared for the water reservoir that lies beneath her.

"I see that you're awake?" a voice boomed gently above her made Leia turned her head in search of the voice. The voice was a man's voice, and it sounded like it was coming from her left side. She stared very hard and tried to make out whom it is, since her vision was slightly blur from tiredness and dizziness from her previous fight with Krai. Fair skin that looked as if it glows with the lights reflected from the water, dark brown hair almost falling into his brilliant amethyst eyes that stare down at her.

"Ka...mui?" whispered Leia softly. Leia stared at Kamui's face for a while, and then held up her hand with much difficulty, since she was still tired. Kamui's eyes widened in surprise as Leia's hand touched his face. Leia look at Kamui with her big dark cherry eyes innocently, waiting for any response that Kamui might give her. When Kamui did nothing but relaxed under her hands, Leia caressed his face slowly and gently. Kamui wondered how someone who wields a sword could have such smooth hands. Usually their hands are rough and full of scratches from holding on to the hilt of the sword.

Smiling weakly, Leia said, "It's a dream, isn't it?"

"Dream?" said Kamui. Leia was smiling, a smile that Kamui has never seen on her face before. Leia was acting all weird, doing things that he thought she would not do. So, this is a dream, huh? Thought Kamui, who was thinking maybe Leia confused between the present world and the dream world. Realizing that he had to wake her up before she goes more confused, Kamui took hold of Leia's hand into his. He look at Leia's small porcelain hand and gives it a light squeeze before his eyes finds her staring back at him, confused.

"This is not a dream...," said Kamui gently. Leia grasp Kamui's hand and reply, "This...is not a dream?"

"No, it's the present world, the world where you sleep..."

"...Sleep..." whispered Leia in an almost inaudible voice. Glance from Kamui to the water Reservoir, Leia let go of Kamui's hand and put hers down on to the slightly cool floor and tries to sit up. A sharp pang of pain thundering her thigh the moment she moved her thigh, waking her up instantly. She looked down on herself and found out that she still wears the same outfit, with dried blood caked on her shirt. Her skin was spotlessly clean and it seems like someone had cleaned the wounds on her thigh. It does not hurt as much as just now anymore.

A headache attacked her suddenly unexpectedly like thundering thunder, causing her to wince in pain and slap a hand on her head. Knitting her brows together, Leia heaved a sigh of relieve when the headache goes away as suddenly as it came. Then it struck her that Odria had taken over the control of her body when she passes out just now. Leia went to sleep moments after Odria gained control of her body, making sure that Odria will not treat Kamui and the rest roughly, as she, always does to those whom Leia came to knew recently.

"You are not Odria right?" said Kamui, uncertain whether the Leia he is talking now is really Leia. He noticed that Leia's eyes now was a dark cherry red, while Odria's appearance made it look black as midnight. Somehow, Kamui had guessed maybe Odria and Leia had different eyes color, but he still have to confirm it, and the best way to do it is to ask Leia.

Leia stared at Kamui for quite some time, making Kamui uneasy in some way. Nevertheless, Kamui stared back and deep into Leia's eyes, which was dark cherry red now. He does not want to let Leia believe that he was afraid to stare into her eyes, but what he knows not is that Leia was also experiencing the very same feeling with Kamui, but was unwilling to show them to him.

Feeling her face grows slightly hot; she turned her head around and stared at the ground, preparing her words so that Kamui will not hear her stutter, or embarrassing herself. Then she remembered something, something that made her smile. She remembered the moment when Freya was biding her sister farewell, waving at her with her small hand in the air gracefully. Sometimes she felt that Freya was a very weak child that needs her support to keep on living, and yet sometimes she felt that Freya was just as strong as she is, and never once Leia saw her crying in front of her. She was not afraid of Odria too, who loved her as much as Leia loved Freya.

Smiling to Kamui, Leia answered him, "No. I'm Leia." Glancing downward again, Leia mentally scolded herself for blushing that easily. It's just Kamui, that's all, thought Leia.

"Where is she?" demanded Kamui in a surprisingly gentle tone. I am certainly not being kind, thought Kamui stubbornly. I was just being a bit softer than usual. She has not fully awake yet and I do not want to make her panic in her current state.

Feeling that Kamui needs to know more than other, Leia move backward with her hand, legs still stiff from pins and needles. Leia took Kamui's hand and put it, to Kamui's dismay, or maybe delight, it depends on him though, on her chest, exactly where the position of a heart rest in Leia's body. Kamui tried not to focus his feelings onto the bulging shape of Leia's chest but on where Leia put his hand on.

Closing her eyes and smiled gently, Leia spoke in an almost inaudible voice, "She's here...she's always here..."

Kamui noticed that Leia's face was in a dreamlike expression, as if she is sleeping with a smile and sitting up near him. With Leia so near him, it made him think back of his first hidden love.

Kamui's past love life is in another world called Japan and in a place called Kyoto. A priestess there protects Kyoto with a barrier generated from her power, as Kyoto was always under attack by creatures only the Onmyoujis are able to see, but unable to destroy the stronger ones. Therefore, the priestess is the most important person that everyone protected, given anything she wished for and treated like a queen. Kamui and the priestess got close, as a friend. The priestess does not know that Kamui harbors a feeling for her, so he left with Subaru to another world, leaving the one he love behind for the sake of Kyoto's residence, knowing that if he takes her as his bride, Kyoto will lose its protection barrier from the priestess and perish under the attack of the creatures. Kyoto is well known for its bountiful source of magical instruments which gave its user powers enough to destroy the weak creatures, but gives powers to the creatures that consume, swallow or posses them.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable with her blood caked outfit and sticky hair, Leia stands up slowly and made her way towards a stair that situated at both side of the hall of reservoir. She stopped her tracks a while later and turned around to face Kamui, "I'm going to get myself clean. See you back in your room..."

Kamui forced himself not to look at Leia when she went up the stairs, limping slowly and take her steps one by one. He can smell blood started to ooze out of Leia's wounds moments after Leia went up the stairs. After all, he is not entirely human, and nobody seems to notice it either. However, what he knows not is that Leia already started to feel it; the air that surrounds Kamui belongs to no human...

**Well munch, how's it? munch munch gulp gulp ahhh Now I'm ready to sleep! Like the chapter before this, I'll suggest a song for this chapter, "Undine" by Yui Makino. Not the song lyrics that is suitable for this chapter, but the song. Enjoy  
I mean, please, drop by your review, comments, critics, and, well...what else?**


	12. Tale 11: The Forbidden Lust

People!!! I've changed some of the sentences here in this chappy, so, read it and enjoy it...

Tale 11: The Forbidden Lust... 

The sound of water splashing onto the cool tiled floor filled the bathroom echoes softly in the bathroom. The water that showered Leia came down not as soothing water, but needle sharp pain. Her toes are starting to grow numb, and not only her toes, but also her skin and her lips, which are pale as corpse. She was well aware that her own body is shivering violently, but she tried her hardest not to shiver, which is something not many are able to do. To stop yourself from shivering is a very painful task, and the more you tried to stop it, the more you shiver, and the more you will be in pain.

Leia desperately wanted to wash away the blood that caked everywhere on her body, and she is willing to use anything just to get the blood off her skin. The sight of blood disgusted her, even if it is her own blood. She hates blood the most, hate it so much that she begun to think of the forbidden lust. She detests blood, and yet her life is depending on it. Without blood, she can never survive. Curse her family's bloodline, for those born into the Hikari family as a firstborn are always having anemia as a package from heaven.

Something very warm flowed out of her nostrils and ran pass her lips. It was definitely not water, because it was warm. It was liquid and not at all sticky and thick. Reaching out a hand to brush it away, she smelled something. Something she feared, because it was not an ordinary smell. She had always feared this moment; a moment that she knew would come eventually, but didn't expect it to come now. She hoped it was not what she thought, and wished none of this ever happened. Leia opened her eyes and saw one color dyed her fingers. It was deep red, and it smelled like blood. What's worse, is that she thought that the blood smelled... nice...

Her head started to spin and her eyes grow blur. _No, not now, please. Not here,_ she begged in her thoughts. She washed her face thoroughly with water to wash all of the blood from her face, including the freshly bleed blood from her nose. _My time as a human is almost up_, thought Leia. Every time she had a nosebleed, it signifies something that makes her lust for something forbidden.

DUB!

Her heart suddenly made a sickening pounding sound, which echoes in her ear in the eerily silent bathroom. Clutching at her bare wet chest with her right hand and pressed a left palm at the wall of the shower room, brows knitted together as she bears the pain that came occasionally like thunder. Lately the pain has been more frequent, and its pain lingers longer than usual. _I can bear it no longer,_ thought Leia.

Left hand forms into a fist, Leia bit her own lips until blood ooze out, which dripped onto the floor and flows along with the water from the shower. Breathing in long breath to steady her now pounding heart, Leia felt that her wild instinct that she always kept deep in her heart is tearing her consciousness apart. Her eyes are now crimson red, the proof of her more feral side. And like always, she raised her wrist to her mouth, intending to at least satisfy her forbidden lust using her own blood. She was about to bite down her own wrist to ease the sickening pain when suddenly her chest stopped throbbing in pain, leaving her leaning on the wall, heaving a relieved sigh.

Her shuddering body finally slowed down, skin turns to the living shade of a corpse. Turning to close the tap, she heard someone stepped into the bathroom. Her eyes met that person's eyes, and that person merely glanced at Leia for a second before he looked sideway, avoiding Leia's surprised eyes and her naked body.

"S-sorry! I didn't realize there's someone here..." said Kamui quickly, explaining to Leia in a surprisingly steady voice. Kamui was just turning his heels to walk out of the bathroom when Leia suddenly stopped him.

"Wait!"

And almost instantly, Kamui stopped. He was surprised at what he did, and he call that 'obeying'. He rarely obeys others except for his parents, because beside his parents, he and Subaru have the highest rank in his world. Everyone obeyed THEM, and they RARELY obey others. Somehow, Leia managed to stop Kamui INSTANTLY on his tracks. Just what does this girl have that made me go all weird, thought Kamui.

"Why are you leaving? This is your bathroom...," said Leia in a matter-of-factly tone. Kamui turned around in surprise at Leia's answers, only to find himself slapped an embarrassing hand over his face as he saw Leia starting to dress up, starting from her black satin underwear. Kamui was obviously embarrassed as he tried desperately but to no avail, hid his embarrassment in the shadows in broad day light. Leia was not feeling anything even thou she is Not wearing anything and was seen Not wearing anything by Kamui and act normally. Instead, she felt weird why Kamui was not looking at her like back then when she WAS wearing something, but turns all weird when she was Not wearing anything. Kamui kept telling his mind to stay calm and cool, calm and cool. Feeling curious all of a sudden, she asked a question, which changed Kamui's view about her instantaneously.

"Is it wrong to be naked in front of someone?"

That does the job. Kamui was shocked beyond explanation, though he does not show it. He was utterly speechless when it comes to the explanation part, he simply covered his mouth and look as if the bathroom doormat was as interesting as someone is reading a cliffhanger story and can't possibly tear his eyes from it and said, "Not wrong, but it depends. Some people thought that being naked in front of everyone are a disgrace, while some other thought that it's wrong."

Leia was brought up as the well-educated and well-mannered daughter of the Hikari clan. Her safety and well-being is cared for by the Great Gods of the Five Elements, namely Touda the Great God of Fire, Seiryu the Roaring Water Dragon, Taijou the Wind Goddess, Genbu the God of Earth, and Tenkuu the Gentle Wood Nymph as the Hikari Family associates themselves with gods. All five of them reside in different realm, and each five of them adored Leia and Freya greatly. As said earlier, the Phoenix is considered as the God of all the Gods. Wherever Leia goes, there is bound to have someone follow her around, including when she was bathing. She was watched over since she was born, and therefore she does not know that it is wrong to be naked in front of people.

Quickly dressing up, Leia left the bathroom, apologize to Kamui, and explain to him that she never knew and never taught about this kind of things since she was small. Kamui avoided Leia's eyes, afraid of looking at the face that'll make him blush, although he swore that he WILL not blush, but well, who knows?

Before Kamui left the bathroom, he saw a hint of red on the floor, which disappears in a flash as it merges with the water. He was sure it was blood; his inhuman instinct told him so. The smell of blood fills the bathroom like mist, clouding his other four senses. Before he could lose himself in the smell of blood that filled the air thickly like a dark mist hanging around a cursed mountain, Kamui stepped out of the bathroom.

Leia was arranging her cloak and fold it neatly into a pile before she get knots out of her now shoulder length ebony tresses before Kamui ask considerately, "Is the water cold?" Earlier when he happened to accidentally 'glanced' Leia's naked body, she was shivering quite a bit, and when she walk past him near the door of the bathroom, he can't feel any warmth at all from her when she accidentally brushed her hand over his.

When Kamui asked her a question, she temporarily halted her hand in her hair and look at Kamui, answering him by looking into somewhere else. "Nope, it's not cold," and resumed to untangle her hair slowly. She looks paler than when she was with him in the water reservoir. _She lies._ _Has something_ _happened to her?_ Thought Kamui.

He went into the bathroom moments later, and when he turned open the shower's tap, his eyes widened in shock. The water that just splashed on his hand was not cold, but almost freezing! Does that mean that the 'torturing' has started again? Thought Kamui about the one possibility why his shower water was icy cold.

There was no heater here in the Tokyo Government Building; instead, they used some kind of special stones found all over the place in Tokyo. This kind of stones comes in all kinds of shape and looks exactly like coal, but actually, it is the remains of the mutant creatures. It was easy to burn and last longer than normal coals, which gave those who use it more lasting heat and can be used over and over again until it turned to ash. Everyone in Tokyo called this stones the Carcass.

Everyone in the Tokyo Government Building respected Kamui as the protector of the People of the Source. Not only was he famous for his skill in fighting, but in terms of looks, he does not lose to anyone else. Somehow, he was quite popular with the females here in the Tokyo Government Building, and that is certainly not a good thing. The women will do anything to gain Kamui's favor, and apparently, they 'torture' those who talked to Kamui, except for the Knights of course. Last time a girl accidentally walk pass Kamui and they locked eyes briefly, and the next day this girl got a high fever because she was forced to use freezing cold water to bath. Moreover, this time, it is Leia's turn.

The first time when Leia stepped into the bathroom without any of her clothes on, it surprised her that the bathroom can be this cold, like there's some sort of icy mist hanging on a cold night. Ignoring it, she opened the shower tap only to have herself jumped in surprise as she felt something sharp pierced her delicate shoulder's skin. She looked over her shoulder and found there is no cut or anything, only her skin that gradually grows red with pain. She soon realize that the water was freezing cold, so cold that it made her skin stings like thousand of sharp things pierced her skin.

Kamui's thoughts burst like a bubble in the air as soon as he heard an unpleasant sound of someone fell down to the floor. Looking at the one and only other person in his room, he found that Leia was sitting on the floor with one of her hand on his bed and another on her head, looking as if she got a severe headache. Wasting no time, Kamui appeared beside of Leia in a flash and did something we don't expect him to do if he was his usual self. He sits down on the bed, and asks whether Leia is okay.

Leia's hand stopped gripping on both the sheets of the bed and her head suddenly. Eyes slowly rising to meet Kamui's, and hands reached out to touch Kamui's face, Leia pushed Kamui back onto the bed. In one swift swing, she was on top of Kamui and he does nothing to stop her. Staring down at Kamui with dreamy and captivating eyes, Leia lowered her mouth on Kamui's, and flicked her tongue out to lick Kamui's surprisingly tender and cool lips.

Kamui was rendered speechless. His heart beating loud and clear against his ribcage and eyes stared at Leia in shock. She took this opportunity to lower her mouth onto Kamui's neck and breathed on it, delighting Kamui in some way. Licking it slowly and gently, Leia opened her mouth and did something unbelievable. She bites Kamui's neck. Hard.

A sharp pain cruised in Kamui's mind, reporting that something sharp had pierced itself onto his neck. He tried to push Leia away, but was surprised that his own hands becomes weak and only managed a soft push on her sides and came to a rest on her back, which is surprisingly small for someone like her.

Leia was fully aware of what she is doing now. She was screaming, lashing, kicking, and do all sorts of stuff just to stop this, but all of this is only a fragment of her imagination, not real life. Unable to stop herself from hurting others is one of the things and reason she hates herself for. She hates the smell and taste of blood, yet she did this to survive, and this is the very first time she tasted the blood of others.

Kamui felt his blood flowing freely onto his neck and down on his clothes. He felt something dripped onto his neck, and if he was right, it felt like tears. Leia loosened her grip on his hand and fell beside him, determined not to pass out before whispering into his ear.

He does not feel any fangs on his neck when Leia was sucking his blood, instead it felt like normal teeth, which seemed to pin him to his place if her teeth is still buried in his neck. Right after it is pulled out, he was free to move again.

There was a fresh trail of tears on Leia's face, apparently sleeping with a sad expression on her face. Brushing her bangs and tears away from her face gently, Kamui recalled what Leia said to him before she pass out.

"Gomen ne, Kamui."

Closing the distance between his face and hers, Kamui licked away the blood on Leia's mouth, tasting his own blood and another kind of blood taste, which he believes, is Leia's blood.

Leia tightened her grip on her chest, which makes her look like she was in pain. _She is transforming_, thought Kamui. Those who had had a vampire, in this case, a pureblood's blood will change into one of their kind soon. Lifting her gently into his arms, he laid her down in his lap and sighed. Her body system must have starting to shut down due to the lack of blood, and since the transformation involves someone who has anemia, it would need a lot of blood to complete the transformation.

Kamui grows out his fingernails and cuts himself in the wrist. Soon, blood start to overflow and he deliberately sucked a mouthful of it. He grasped her lower jaw tenderly and fed Leia with his blood, allowing his blood to tickle slowly into Leia's mouth. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, allowing more blood to flow into her mouth. To change into a vampire successfully, one has and have to drink enough blood from the said vampire, or else the human that is going to change into one will suffer by pain beyond imagination and die.

Leia opened her eyes and a wave of amethyst colored eyes greets her, shocking her further when she felt blood flowing into her mouth, from Kamui's mouth. Leia raised a hand to push him away, only to have Kamui hold her hand by the side of her body while his right arm came around Leia's head, securing her in place. After some struggle which tires out Leia, she gave in to her hunger for blood, the forbidden lust.

Leia responded to Kamui unconsciously as her anemia instinct wakes up again. Sensing the blood flows into her mouth and in reflex, flicked her tongue out to lick it hungrily. Kamui was trying his best not to lose control, and restrain a groan when Leia licked his lips. Soon, both their tongues are entangled in a bloody mass, both unwilling to surrender, which rendered both of them breathless with it.

Leia fell asleep as soon as Kamui's lips left hers. Using his left hand, Kamui brushed away the blood on his mouth. Staring at Leia's sleeping expression, he can't help to feel something about her. She was really beautiful, just like a doll. But there are scars on her, not physically, but they're scars on her heart. The air around her had always been cold, only warmed up slightly when Freya was in sight. She was fragile, yet strong at the same time. Stronger than most women, yet so fragile like a porcelain doll.

Leia succumbs into her deep sleep, recalling the time when Kamui was looking at her with his amethyst eyes that seems to see through most of her. She must not let him get near her, she must not. This is why she is always wearing a mask, an invisible mask that she hopes nobody will come and rip it from her face. There is no first and there will never be a last. No one will be the first and only person to see what is beneath my mask. _Especially him..._

_Date Modified: 14th of October_


	13. Tale 12: The Bride

And now, HERE IT IS!!!! FREEDOM FINALLY!!!!! I'M NOW FREE!!!!!  
err...  
ahem. Well, yeah, I'm free. And so that also means I can also write stories and do so many things now, for example, being a tution teacher for, kindergarten kids.  
Well, enjoy the story!!!

Tale 12: The Bride...

Her own reflection in the mirror was looking back at her in her splendid red dress gown, roses sewn at the hem of her dress and glittering crystals hanging loose on her slender looking corset which generously exposed her collarbone, neck decorated with a diamond-encrusted choker. Her beauty shines radiantly even if she was only an image of her future in a mirror, the one and only 'future' person she was able to see as a dream seer who sees the past.

_**Wake up...**_

A voice whispered and echoes loudly in the darkness. The voice was that of a man, deep and gentle at the same time.

_**Stop searching for the flower...**_

This time, the voice turned a bit louder. There's a mixed feeling in that voice, a sense of urgency and pleading to it, and not to mention the sad feeling heavily clouded in it.

_Help us..._

_**Don't go there...**_

It kept whispering loudly in her ear, images of people drenched in blood appearing in her memories...

_You're hopeless!_

_**Don't listen to them!**_

Flashes of flaming red fire consuming her house, and now the voice becomes more distant and the cries and moaning of the dead people becomes louder...

_Save us..._

The voice whispered so loud in her ear till the point that she can no longer take it anymore, dead people with brains displayed on their head, mangled bodies, mutated corpse all came marching into her direction with each a throbbing heart in their hand, bloodied....

_Please, end our sufferings..._

"Stop..." pleaded Leia in a soft voice.

_**Wake up...You need to wake up...**_

"Stop. Please!"

_SAVE US!_

The image of a corpse without a jaw and eyes of that a maggot, crawling out from its socket where the eyeball should have been, blood pouring out of its eyes instead of tears and raised a hand with three fingers only and it was all burned up. Black and red spots where the blood suppose to ooze out, but instead of blood, it is yellow pus, not blood. And holding up her hand, she notices that her hand was all covered in blood. And on the ground, was the mutilated hands and heads and bodies of corpse that had been dissected into parts, holding onto her leg.

Leia wakes up screaming at the top of her lungs, still thinking that she is dreaming in that horrific place with words of hope that the corpses had placed upon her like a curse, ringing loudly in her ear.

Kamui, who was dozing off, woke up with a start and turned his head just in time to see Leia fell down onto the floor when her legs kicked the end of Kamui's bed. Still screaming from fear, she gets up onto her feet and ran into the bathroom, turning on the shower full blast and accidentally glanced to the mirror, which reflected her face all coated with blood, and around her was fire and the mutilated faces of corpses in her dream, marching up at her.

Screaming at her image in the mirror, Leia backed away until her back hit the wall of the bathroom and began to scrub away all the blood that had started to ooze out from her wound when she falls down earlier using her fingernails. What she thought is a patch of blood is actually the wound, and she scratched it hard, earning her more blood oozing out from her now shredded wound.

Kamui came just in time to stop her from destroying the mirror with her fist, but not without receiving a bleeding mouth from a stray slap first.

"Stop it! Leia, stop shouting! Wake up!"

Accidentally, Leia stepped on a patch of wet tile and slipped into the freezing cold water that filled the bathtub behind her. Kamui tried his best to catch her, but he ended up splashing into the bathtub along with Leia.

He pulled Leia up from the water and hold onto her face with both of his hand, calming and waking her up immediately. He saw that there was real fear in her eyes, which surprised him greatly. _Did she have a nightmare or something?_

"Kamui..."said Leia in her tear filled voice. Kamui just stare at her, unable and don't know what he is suppose to do. Before he knew, a warm feeling surrounded his chest. Leia had leaned onto him for support, not because she was weak, but because of fear of the things she sees in her dream. She was shaking as she tried hard not to cry in front of Kamui. _Not in front of him, not him,_ thought Leia.

Eyes softened at the sight of the scared and broken Leia, Kamui envelop her in a warm hug he didn't remember possessing. And slowly, he could hear Leia mumble in his shoulder.

"They kept calling for my help...I didn't know how to help them...but...they just won't stop coming back...I'm...I-I'm...I'm ashamed of myself, ashamed that I won't help those who needed my help, instead I seek to cover and hid the thought in my mind, but...I just kept hearing them..."

"You don't have to feel shame. You're just scared, that's all. It's all right to feel scared, because that is what makes you human, and not just an unemotional Blood Princess like what they've said about you..." Comforted Kamui, who was, by now, stroking Leia's black tresses gently, which feels surprisingly smooth despite the face that it's wet.

"I hate to kill...because I hate blood...-sob-...but I cannot stop killing others if they tried to kill me...I just...want to survive...to protect my own consciousness and my sister...I...don't want to kill...and yet...they won't let me stop killing them..." sobbed Leia in Kamui's embrace. His hands tightened around her body instinctively, as if he was afraid that she might broke if he let her go. Leia's tears continue to flow freely from her jewel red eyes.

Some time later, after Leia had calmed down, they change their cloth back into dried ones. Leia had gone back to sleep with Kamui beside her bed, unable to leave or lie down. Apparently, Leia had a habit of holding onto someone's sleeve when she's scared, and now she's holding onto Kamui's one.

_She didn't transform into a vampire_, thought Kamui. Usually when one had drank the blood of a pureblood vampire, one will transform into a vampire after sleeping for a few hours. And right after transformed, that person will automatically accepted the one who gave them blood as their master. Instead, Leia dreamed of horror and holding onto his sleeve without Kamui's permission_. She is definitely not changing, but why?_

Then something struck him. The characteristics of a Hanayame, or in English, a Bride. When pureblood vampires reach a certain age, they would go out in search for a Bride. Common vampires can have a human as its bride, but the child they produce will be pure human, not vampire. But it was a total upside down for a Pureblood Vampire.

Pureblood Vampires would have to search for a Bride with special traits in their blood, which means they are more special and different from normal human beings. Until they found a Bride, a Vampire is considered immature. Brides have certain powers of their own, the most common ones are healing powers, while the rarest of them all will be the most special ones. They are still human, but they are different from human. The children that they bear for humans will not live long, for the child need to have Yin energy, or in other word, a negative energy to survive, and they get it from their vampire father or mother. The Brides have Yang energy, or positive energy, and without a negative energy to balance it, the child they produce will never survive for long.

Brides are extremely rare, for they're considered the outcast of humans, or mutated human beings. They are not easy to die, and somehow, even suffering from enormous pain and blood lost, they, still, are able to stand up. Normal humans are afraid of them, younger humans called them a freak, children's are forbidden to talk, look, or even walk by them, giving some weird excuses like those that you'll be cursed if you do. Therefore, suffering from emotional torture, and unable to comprehend the sufferings, they end their lives.

Pureblood Vampires do age, but only if they're left without a Bride. Once they found one and marked the Bride as theirs, the Bride and the Pureblood Vampire will gain eternal life. Once given, there will be no turning back. The gift of eternal life will last forever until one is killed, and it will not wane off whatsoever from curses or sickness.

Just as he was thinking, Leia stirred in her sleep. He remembered what Leia had told him not to do when she was asleep. She had requested that he does not kiss her forehead when she was sleeping. When she said this, her eyes was looking straight into his, which he felt the gaze that was set upon him was looking right through into his soul.

For one thing, she was very beautiful, and there was something mysterious about her that made her even more attractive. For some unknown reason, whenever Kamui looked at her and she looked back at him, he couldn't help but be honest and truthful to himself. She sure was something to be able to make him oblige her till this stage_. I've gotten the_ _main dish already, _thought Kamui. _And the dessert is coming on my way soon..._

She looks totally different when she sleeps, and Kamui just can't help but to stare at her. Kamui notices there's a tear in her eyelashes. Instinctively, his fingers reach out to brush it off delicately, and hear her mumble in her sleep,

"Subaru...run...wake up..."

_Date Written: 20 of October_


	14. Tale 13: The Lust of a Pureblood Vampire

A/N: Sorry if this chappy is a little crappy or out of your expectations.  
Enjoy.  


* * *

Tale 13: The Lust of a Pureblood Vampire...

Kamui's eyes widened. Subaru! His other self, his twin, his one and only brother that understood him, that never leave him, how does Leia knows about Subaru? And how does she knows that he's sleeping?

Just as he was trying to thought about all the possibilities on how Leia might have came to know about Subaru, his most feared time came.

For three whole years, Kamui has been hiding his lust for blood as a Pureblood Vampire. A Vampire needs to feed once a while to satisfy their hunger for blood, if they don't, their body organs will refuse to function and the Vampire will suffers great pain over for it. Blood can be substituted with a great amount of food, but in Kamui's case, food is scarce in Tokyo, so he has been hold back his need for blood for over three years, which is incredible for a Pureblood Being like himself.

Kamui's eye flashed into yellow with slit pupils, the atmosphere grow chilly with his fangs slowly grows out from his normal ones. Feeling his throat goes terribly dry and yet unwilling to feast upon Leia's fresh blood, Kamui force himself to walk into the bathroom while biting down onto his lips to ease the pain. Turning the shower full blast to cool himself down, like always, he sat back down onto the cool and freezing tiles. Nevertheless, he cannot stifle the groans escaping from his dry throat from time to time.

Leia's sleep was disturbed by a sudden pounding sound coming from the bathroom. She look around and found out that her bedside is very warm. Instantly, an image pops in her mind. Well, we all know who that is, right?

_Kamui_, thought Leia. Lately, she realized that she has been seeing Kamui a lot, and she reconsider her opinion earlier. _He's not at all that bad, and_ _more gentle than I thought_. She looked around and found that there are trails of blood leading to the bathroom. Instantly, she felt something is wrong. Terribly wrong. Getting up from bed and ignored the blood stains on Kamui's bed, Leia sprinted towards the blood trails leading to the bathroom.

The moment her fingers touched the doorknob, she quickly snatched her hand back from it, feeling totally uneasy. The doorknob was freezing cold, much more colder than ice that it hurts to touch it. _There must be something terribly wrong with him_, thought Leia. Summoning all her courage, Leia gripped the doorknob and pushed open the door, biting in her pain from the frozen doorknob.

From her eyes, which only Leia alone can see, she saw a veil of dark and white mist hanging around a man sitting on the floor, dressed all in black. That person has a dark and purplish aura around him, and it didn't look too good.

Since her parents death, Leia has been able to see most things that normal people can't see, even Freya, Odria and Krai. She can tell when one is not human, or was possessed by others, or when someone is feeling down just by looking at them. She can see the air surrounding them, if it was dark color, it means that person is dying soon. But the color is usually associated with the person's eyes color, and if the air surrounding that person has the exact color of that person's eyes, that means that person is healthy and is not weighed by problems. If one is weighed down with worries, white mist will bind itself with the person's neck, like a noose.

Her heart skipped a beat when the person she saw sitting down with under the showering water turns out to be no other than Kamui. The air surrounding him slowly grows darker and thicker, signifying his time is almost up. Not capable of standing there and watch the one she just started to like to die in front of her eyes, Leia grabbed hold of Kamui's frozen hand and tried to wake him up by slapping on his pale face.

"Kamui? Kamui! Wake up! God, you're freezing!"

Kamui felt someone slapped his cheek, and the result is that he was not able to sleep, in this case, closing his eyes forever. A warm feeling enveloped his hand, and he can hear a familiar voice calling out to his name. _Leia?_

"Thank goodness you'd wake up. I was just going to get help. Wait here, okay?" said Leia in a hurried tone, afraid that she was too late, afraid that she will lose him.

Just as she was going to get up and go fetch Freya so that she can heal him, Kamui grabbed hold of her wrist tightly and won't let go.

"They can't...help me...," muttered Kamui breathlessly. He let out a loud groan when the pain strikes again with each breath he takes, just like breathing in a Tarantula's needle dust.

Leia kept silent for a moment. She knew this moment was going to come, and instead of waiting for him to ask for it, she offered it to him herself first. "Then...do you need blood?"

Upon hearing the word 'blood', Kamui groan again, the pain that attacked his lungs had started to affect his breathing. Unable to talk, Kamui allows Leia, the girl that he, for the second time in his whole life, started to love, a glance of what he is.

Leia was able to tell that Kamui is not human, at least, not entirely human, by looking into his golden eyes with slit pupils. But she never expected him to be a Vampire, and if she'd guessed right, Kamui is a Pureblood. Because judging from Kamui's current situation, he had not feed upon blood for years, starting from the time when he is first seen in Tokyo because the scent of blood is not sticking with him. Only a Pureblood is able to withstand three years worth of hunger for blood, while others would have turned into a blood-filled monster.

Leia is going to do what her heart wants her to do. All her wounds had healed upon gaining Kamui's blood's power, leaving her able to heal herself in a short period. Leia didn't change into a vampire, which a situation she wasn't able to explain herself, but feels that Kamui knows why. Determined not to let him die, Leia bite down onto her wrist and sucked the blood that flows out. She straddled herself between Kamui's lap and hold up onto his face, making him looking UP at her with his yellow slit pupils eyes.

Her long dark bangs brushed Kamui's own dark wet bangs. The shower is still turned on full blast and Still, shower both of them with cold water. Staring down into his dazzlingly beautiful yet clouded with pain yellow slit pupil eyes; Leia can't help feeling shy all of a sudden. While Leia still hesitate over her shyness, Kamui takes his time to admire her alluring dark cherry eyes. Her long eyelashes curled up, hiding her dark cherry jewel in her eyes when she closes her eyes. _Perfect, like a doll_, thought Kamui.

Gently caress Kamui's cheek, Leia lowered her bloodstained mouth onto Kamui's pale lips as gently as she could. Parting her mouth to allow more blood to flow into Kamui's mouth, Leia can't help but to blush at what she is doing and noticing the fangs in Kamui's mouth when her lips touched them. But she kept reminding herself that this was the only way to save him.

Kamui's strength is slowly returning to him due to him consuming a Bride's blood, which provides far more healing power than the blood of an 'E', or in another word, a Prey. A prey is just an imitation of humans, soulless and painless beings without a mind of their own. His hand slowly make its way towards Leia's waist and the back of her neck, one to secure her in place while the other prevents her from turning her head.

He dove in his tongue into Leia's when she gasped over Kamui's hand around her body, pulling her into his lap. Licking and tasting what belongs solely to her, Kamui starts to gets rougher and deepened their kiss, as he gets greedier and demanded for more blood to satisfy his hunger as a Vampire.

Leia broke the kiss first, exactly the time when Kamui had licked the last drop of blood from Leia's mouth. Unbuttoning the first three buttons of her shirt, Leia offered her neck to Kamui, unknown about what her consequences will bring.

Kamui intends to push Leia away to avoid and ignore her offering, but Leia stayed in her position, unwilling to move an inch more and look at Kamui straight into the eyes.

"No...I can't..." gritted Kamui between his teeth, which his Vampire fangs has grown and doubled in size and forcing down the urge to bite Leia and takes great notice of his Vampire instinct of feeding upon an unmarked Bride's neck, taking care not to let lose incase he was unable to control himself. "If I bite...you..., you'll..."

"Just bite me! I don't care what will happen to me, but what I can promise you is that I will definitely not die before I get what I want!" barked Leia, growing frustrated over Kamui's 'fussiness' over feeding.

"Just please..." pleaded Leia, and while pressing herself to him and folded her arms around Kamui's neck, making his head rested right upon her neck, Leia whispered into Kamui's ears shyly, "don't leave me..."

Eyes widened in disbelief, Kamui realized that Leia has also, started to love Kamui, just like how he had started to realize his love for Leia. Smiling weakly on Leia's neck, Kamui breathed ALMOST sexily to her, "Do you want me to count up to three before I bite you?"

"NO!" blurted Leia. Quite aware that her voice was slightly louder due to shock, Leia tells Kamui in a lower and gentler tone, "Just...don't count. Just do it before I- *gasp*!"

Leia gasped aloud when Kamui suddenly bites down onto her neck, puncturing her blood veins with his fangs as deep as possible, drawing out mouthful after mouthful of blood. It was very painful, far more painful than what she had imagined from the fangs of a Vampire. She had heard tales that when a Pureblood Vampire bites you, you can turn into a Vampire upon your first drop of human blood. She knew that by this way, she will not die, but instead, turned into a Vampire. But she was unaware of what she is to a Vampire, and her value to a still-single vampire...

Leia moaned out in pain loudly, unable to swallow the pain and keep silent. Trying her hardest to keep quiet so that Kamui will not stop sucking her blood, Leia bites down onto her hand to restrain her moan, wounding herself for the pain of drawing out blood from the neck was too great. The pain was nothing humans can imagine, and it was certainly not something a human can withstand.

Growing slightly dizzy for the massive blood loss that she has offered to Kamui, Leia draws in deep breaths and slowly, falls back onto the tiled floor. Her head never hit the tiles, but in its place was Kamui's hand cupping her head. Kamui ripped Leia's shirt to reveal more of her shoulder so that he can feed easily without any fabric blocking on his cheek. Her shoulder was amazingly smooth, and he cannot stop himself from running a hand over it.

Lying in his lap, Leia gripping on his forearm tightly to urge him not to stop until he has his fill. Kamui's arm wrapped around Leia's slender waist, which is very small, memorizing the feeling of it under his hand. Leia's right hand has found its way into Kamui's soft dark brown hair, which was wet from the shower. Her gaze unintentionally fell upon Kamui's neck, which no longer has the dark aura surrounding him and the white freezing veil has lifted. Smiling faintly, Leia closes her eyes.

The mask that she had always wore to hide her emotions and feelings behind it had started to crack, despite her using the finest material to make it, for example, her twin sister's murderous past and her revenge over her dead parents, and most important of them all, is that she must find the cure to her sister's sickness. The mask is made to withstand all emotions and feelings, but due to the longing of love hidden deep beneath the depth of Leia's heart started to resurface slowly, the mask, eventually, started to worn out.

Kamui stopped sucking on her blood and licked the wound before he lifts his mouth from her neck, staring into Leia's gradually closing eyelid, who was tired over the loss of blood.

"Thank you for the meal, my lovely Bride..." grinned Kamui, at long last, after so many years of travelling with Subaru, has finally found his Bride, who will certainly beat the many breathtakingly beautiful female Vampires back in his country who just won't stop blowing him flying kisses and 'accidental' embraces. Feeling entirely satisfied, he licked Leia's bloodstained lips. A triumphed smile painted across his fair features as he planted a kiss on Leia's forehead lovingly.

"Bride...?" asked Leia weakly, who, by a hair's breadth had the energy left to talk.

Chuckling, Kamui answered her question while lifting her off the wet bathroom tile, heading for the bed.

"Yes, my lovely Bride. You shall now belong to me and only me, as I, a Pureblood Vampire, the Noblest of the entire Vampire clans, has marked you as my Bride, and forever shall you be..."

Placing her gently in her bed, Kamui kisses her hand and watches as his Bride enters her deep slumber, thinking about how to explain to her about this when she woke up. And of course, about how she knows about Subaru, his other half...

_Date Written: 26 of October_


	15. Tale 14: The Sinner's Sorrow

A/N:Hello people! I know I haven't updated for ages, and I'm terribly sorry for that. You can't really blame me when my brain is currently empty with ideas for the next progress of the story. I'm too excited with the long holidays after my huge and big exams, and now, I finally realize the importance of school.

I'm bored. In fact, I'm currently at the edge of my patience and I'm in danger of losing my insanity if nobody left a comment here because I've done my Secondary School and currently looking for a college. So, **please,** comment!

And not before I tell everyone how sweet and wonderful xXvampiredumgum13Xx have been to me. She helped me to edit my grammar, which I tend to make lots of mistake and had promised to leave a review after I've updated my story. ..~ Lots of thanks and love here for everyone who read, support, and leave a review! (And a complain to the admin to those who drop by flaming comment bombs.(Crackling evilly~))

Enjoy!

**Tale 14: The Sinner's Sorrow...**

The room was entirely decorated with curtains of black beads, with mirrors of all sizes and designs hanging on the wall of it, reflecting a sitting Leia tied around a red throne chair, dripping all over with blood that slowly formed a pool below the seat. The chains tied around Leia have sharp spikes around them, pricking Leia's delicate and smooth skin. The dress she was wearing was soaked with blood; half of it her blood, while the other half came from the ceiling above her, which was leaking drops of crimson liquid in a fast rhyme. Now that she realized it, the room smelled just like blood, and the water on the floor was blood too.

The mirror starts to get cloudy by an unknown mist, and before she knew it, Leia was staring in a huge mirror the size of a small room, and in it was the endless torturing image that Leia hated but unable to tear her eyes away from it. But this time, it was different.

There were no past horrors, but instead, something that she had never thought she will ever see. An event that Leia had never seen and could not understand why is she able to see them. A future event of Tokyo.

The place of the image in the mirror was under the Tokyo Government Building, the secret underground reservoir. There was no more water, and in the middle of it, hanging by huge branches, was a huge mass of ball, probably composed of moss. The ball was shining brightly with light and a dark figure wearing a cloak holding a long and large sword walked towards it.

Stepping on one of the branches that supported the mass of ball, the dark figure slashed open the sphere and gushes of water flowed out, emptying the ball's content. The dark figure entered the ball and inside, now lying at the bottom of the orb, was a cocoon, shining brightly. It seems that the cocoon is the source of light. Raising up the sword above its head, the dark figure brings down its sword onto the cocoon with all of its strength, and blood splattered everywhere. Lying in the cocoon was Subaru, now covered in blood.

Turning around, the dark figure slowly grows visible, and as though it knew Leia was looking at the image, it smiled at Leia. As the light shined on the figure's face, a name instantly popped in Leia's head: Krai, smiling wickedly back at Leia and licking the blood on her sword. And strangely enough, there was a clock suspended in mid air near Krai, and it read 3 in the morning.

Leia woke up seconds later with a gasp, heart beating fast against her ribcage. _Subaru,_ thought Leia, _he's going to die._

Subaru, was in fact, the person who had taught her how to wield her sword. He taught her how to control it and fight with it using her own style. Since Leia excelled best in dancing, Subaru himself had suggested Leia to combine her dancing skills and sword skills into one.

Wanting to change the future and avoid any misfortune that is soon to befall on Subaru, Leia decided to check up upon the water reservoir beneath the Tokyo Government Building before going to the Hills of Serpents to retrieve the Blue Poppy, which Leia had suspected earlier that Subaru might have been sleeping underneath the water. _Subaru's dreamscape looks so_ _much like the water reservoir beneath the Tokyo Government Building_, thought Leia.

The Blue Poppy, the rarest of the rarest, can only be found near dawn in the most dangerous and heavily guarded place in Tokyo, the Hills of the Serpents. The Blue Poppy was guarded by a two headed gigantic cobra, the only living thing left in Tokyo that still has its consciousness guarded.

The Blue Poppy was possibly the last treasure of Tokyo, as it was the only plant left in Tokyo that won't decompose, melt or died by the level of acid in the soil. The world only allowed one Blue Poppy to bloom at one time in the world, and until the time comes for it to wilt, it will continue to bloom under the shadow of the moon, completely hidden behind the rays of sunlight. With the sun high up in the sky, it was completely invincible to human eyes. To Leia, the Blue Poppy can wait. Saving someone's life from Krai is definitely, more important.

Remembering the clock that suspended in mid air beside Krai in her dream, she searched for a clock in Kamui's room, and, finally, she found one hanging above the window, with Kamui sleeping beneath it peacefully. The clock now read, dear God, 15 minutes till three in the morning!

Instantly, Leia leaped off from her bed and scrambled for the door, falling once again to the floor when her feet caught on the metal bar of Kamui's bed, inadvertently waking up Kamui in the process. Ignoring the pain that pounded in her feet, Leia ran for the door and managed to leave the room, clad only in a very short shorts and a piece of black sleeveless shirt with a tube inside, WITHOUT her shoes and weapons.

The people in the Tokyo Government Building were asleep, as it was still very early. Leia managed to find her way around the maze like building and stopped in front of a large door. Despite her having been here before, Leia couldn't remember things well. Summoning her extraordinary strength, Leia opened the door, which can only be opened with three or four people pulling the handle. What greets her eyes was no longer the sparkling water reservoir as she have seen earlier and in Subaru's dreamscape, but a huge mass of ball suspended in mid air, supported by thick and huge branches.

The water reservoir had dried up, leaving the ball open to all danger.

_If Subaru wakes up_, thought Leia, _then Krai won't have the chance to kill him._

Determined not to watch anyone die again, Leia summoned her courage and stepped on the huge branch connected to the huge mass of ball, which was slippery with moss. It was almost impossible for anyone to walk on it without a pair of shoes, but for Leia, it was nothing. She had learned how to balance well on oil-coated ropes during her training when she was young, so this was easy for her.

Using only her fingers, Leia clawed at the ball in the hope to tear it with her hand. Minutes later, she gave up, and, created a short dagger from water, she slashed at the ball and jumped up onto the ball immediately, and knowing that there'll be water gushing out of it as soon as it breaks.

After the water ran out, Leia jumped into the now empty ball, and as she had seen in her dreams, lying on the bottom of the ball was Subaru's cocoon.

Fearing the fact that her dagger will hurt Subaru, Leia used her fingers to try and tear at the cocoon, in the hope that Subaru will wake up from his deep slumber.

"That is not something you should touch, Leia." Kamui said in a firm and icy tone. He hated when anyone came close to Subaru.

Kamui had followed Leia, and he had a hard time keeping up with her, as she always turned her way back and forth, unknown to the direction. He wanted to help her around, but decided otherwise. He saw Leia going into the underground reservoir, and started to have a bad feeling. And when he entered into the underground reservoir, he saw that there was hardly any water left, and Leia was holding a water-made dagger.

Ignoring Kamui, Leia continued her work, tearing at the cocoon. She had almost succeeded in tearing it, but then Kamui came in, thus interrupted her.

"I'll explain it to you later," panted Leia, as she was tired and her fingers hurt, in fact, they were bleeding. The cocoon that protected Subaru was very tough, like concrete.

"I said: Don't. Touch. Him!" growled Kamui. He walked towards Leia and gripped at her forearm, which she stubbornly tried to break free, but to no avail.

"There is no time for that!" argued Leia.

"She's right you know?"

Another voice joined into Kamui's and Leia's argument, and as Kamui was standing facing Leia with his back facing the entrance to the ball, he felt another hand upon his shoulder right before he turned his head around.

"You know that she's right, yet your consciousness doesn't believe her. Oh, and one more thing, don't," Krai paused in her sentence for more dramatic effect, before shoving Kamui easily aside with her superhuman strength. "block the way!"

Now facing each other, Leia stared at Krai, the other her, who was wearing the exact same outfit as she had seen in her dream. Krai was in fact, holding on the very same sword that had appeared in Leia's dream. Angered at the fact that Krai was going to kill someone that had a connection to her, Leia screamed the blue-eyed maiden's name in frustration.

"KRAI!" bellowed Leia. She raised an arm to hit her, but Krai had other ideas. Krai caught hold of Leia's wrist and gave it a twist, receiving a grunt from Leia. Smiling in delight, Krai threw Leia towards Kamui, who had just regained his composure and was standing up. Having Leia thrown at his direction, Kamui caught her, and, for a second time, falls down again with Leia in his lap.

Leia's wrist had been twisted into a weird angle. Clearly bounded in pain, Leia bit down onto her right shoulder and twisted it forcefully back into its place, suppressing her tears and cries. Standing up groggily, Leia mumbled her words silently.

"I'll...get...my...revenge..." and falls down into a heap.

Laughing in delight, Krai walks towards Leia. Kamui had gone to Subaru's side, and to his uttermost surprise, he found emerald eyes looking at him. _Subaru has woken up_ _from his deep slumber,_ thought Kamui. Seeing Kamui, Subaru quickly motioned a finger to his lips, silencing Kamui.

Picking up Leia as easy as a pie and slinging Leia over her shoulder, Krai said to Kamui, "You're lucky she was here, if not, I would have killed that twin of yours long ago, as HE is the one who made her this strong! Spoiling all of my plans for her..."

Krai was enraged that Subaru had ruined almost all of her plans as Leia grew stronger under his training in the Dreamscape. But thinking that she had finally gotten her hands on Leia, she smiled, and said, "But never mind about that. I've made her into a 'Sleeping Beauty', and I've even planned a small reunion for us. But since we didn't invite you," pointing at Kamui, "and you," pointing at Subaru, "I would advise you not to follow us, if you want that 'precious twin' of yours to die in his dream." Krai said sharply to Kamui, eyes flashing bright blue in her doll-like eyes.

Krai left with her trophy hanging over her shoulder. Flashing back to the time when she twisted Leia's wrist, Krai had secretly scratched Leia with the poison that she had applied on her nails. The poison that Krai made is powerful enough to make a grown human lose consciousness in seconds. Smiling a sad smile without anyone looking at her, Krai whispered silently, "If only there was no Blood Crystal...,"

"......" muttered Krai in her heart, not wishing anyone or anything to hear what the one and only wish she kept to herself.

_Written On: 16 of December  
Checked by:xXvampiredumgum13Xx_


	16. Tale 15: The Treasured Twins

A/N: I hereby anounce to everyone, thank you for still reading my story after such a long time. Seriously, I've been thinking of dedicating my thoughts and imagination solely for this story, but then, well, I _did _write several other stories, and it's really been a while since I've updated them, especially my Mononoke's story, "When Hunter Meets Prey". Up until now, I have only published a pathetic One chapter for this story. Sad isn't it. And last few time I promise to update my story too...And hereby I announce to everyone, sorry for not keeping my promise.

There are several reasons for that. First, my dad's constant interruption. He insist that I let him read my story, which I definately would not for fear of humiliation(the love story), Second, I've been away to several places at once for Chinese New Year, Third, it's really a pathetic excuse, but I really have no idea for the next story! I have the plot in my head already and how all of this will end, but I just don't know how to put it into words. So, give me some time and I'll settle with the mess my head's been making.

So, for the sake of letting my readers read peacefully, I'll leave my authors note for now and please, scroll down and enjoy, but not before I let **xXvampiredumgum13Xx** know how sweet she is for helping me to beta this story. Millions of thanks!

**Tale 15: The Treasured Twin...**

"Kamui, you must save her!" exclaimed Subaru, trying his best to coax his twin brother to save Leia, possibly one of Kamui's most treasured people.

Kamui always swore that he will protect and love Subaru, and if one of them leaves the other, they will crush each other's heart. But all of this 'mess' and three years of loneliness, awaiting for Subaru's awakening from his deep slumber, has weakened Kamui a great deal, not to mention he hadn't properly fed in three years. God knows how he survived that, but, deep in his heart, Subaru knew, that Kamui had fallen for the fair maiden in his dream...

"Subaru. You just woke up. And we need to leave before that one eyed creep catches up on us..." Kamui ruffled his hair in response, trying his very best to distract his brother from this issue, which his words fell upon deaf ears.

"Kamui, don't you care for her?!" That did it. Kamui halted in his tracks as he pulled Subaru towards the huge door of the water reservoir, turning around slowly to glance back at Subaru with his expression painted to those of shock and surprise and bangs hiding part of his violet gems. Subaru ignored the fact that Kamui had used the word 'one eyed creep' to represent Seishirou's name, the name that Kamui so loathed and hated to hear about. For now, he needed to settle with Kamui about something he had been itching to do years ago.

Subaru was one of the few people in both his and his brother's life that understood what each other wanted. But with Kamui being the stubborn and quiet one, he couldn't help being angry with him. Kamui almost always hid his feelings and true intentions away, putting Subaru over everything else, including the life he now holds. If Subaru didn't watch out for his brother secretly all the time, he would have stupidly thrown his life into a decision that could endanger both him and Subaru's life.

"But, Subaru, I love..."

"Both me and her! Right?!" cutting through Kamui's words, Subaru had to practically yell at his stubborn brother who didn't want to admit who he likes most. But it didn't matter with Subaru. With Kamui ruffling his hair, which was very rare for a very civilized person as both Kamui and Subaru are, and the surprised expression he made earlier when Subaru himself planted the fact 'you care' into his brother's brain, he knew he had to solve this quick or else Kamui might just regret over it some time later. "That's it. You're going to leave with me along with her in line or none at all! And that's that! We'll be staying here in Tokyo for a while more until I see her come back, whether in pieces or in whole!"

To say he was not surprise over this, that would a lie for Kamui. He was, after all, always the one who makes a decision over almost everything in their lives, just for the sake of protecting Subaru, his precious brother and twin. Subaru, on the other hand, was the one who almost always followed Kamui wherever he wanted to go, It was only a few times that Subaru didn't stay with Kamui and explore alone, and in that 'one of a few times', was when Subaru met Seishirou and gave him his blood.

He thought that it was nothing, but when Kamui got fueled up just by looking at Seishirou it made Subaru find an excuse to visit the washroom and laugh. To him, it was somehow adorable, how Kamui always fired Seishirou with every word he could summon, and Seishirou staying as calm as he ever would, only talking back with a short sentence while Kamui continued ranting out long and elaborated ones. Both of them were like summer and winter, or Dog and Cat. Their never-ending squabbles sometimes brought tears of laughter into Subaru's brilliant emerald eyes. However, now, it was only 'those were the days'.

Subaru was just about to step out of the door and head out of the building when suddenly a few people wearing the same looking cloak that Kamui was wearing came upon him. Apparently they've never seen him around before, and was just going to confirm the fact whether he was a friend or foe.

"If I'm not wrong this time, I've never remember we have any encounter before. Who are you?" said Yuuto, who just woke up from his daze after Kusanagi gave his elbow a nudge. It was still very early in the morning, barely dawn yet, and yet, commotion about someone invading the grounds of the Tokyo Government Building has started to rise in between the people of the Source. To bring back the once peaceful morning they always had back then, the Knights had had to give up on their resting time and end the squabbling between the people.

Kamui explained to the Knights that Subaru is his twin brother, and along with them, Kamui and Subaru was just going to get back to their rooms when someone suddenly barge in and, seeing Kamui right in front of him, blurt out something in loud voices.

"Kamui! There's a weird looking person that looks exactly like the new girl and has gone with the new girl! She has taken the new girl away and..."

"The new girl? Is it Leia?" asked Kakyou, appearing in between Kusanagi and Yuuto. Any other person wouldn't have made his ears perked up, but, in Leia's case, it's different.

"Seems like her. But that person who took her away looks like her too." Said the person.

"It's her then. Leia's twin sister. No one here or out there looks like Leia other than her twin sister..." said Subaru.

Eyes widened in surprise, Yuuto exclaim his doubts loudly "Twins? You mean they're twins? As in 'real', 'walking', 'talking' twins?"

"Pipe down Yuuto-san. Yes. Twins."

"Wow. I can't believe there's actually another pair of twins..."

"Who's the other pair other than Leia and her twin?"

"Kamui and Subaru of course. Don't you guys think that they look alike in some ways?"

"Yeah...come to think of it, they really resemble each other..."

"Except for their eyes..."

"Stop treating us like we're cargos!" exclaimed Kamui, who got angry by the mob of Knights trying to differentiate his beloved brother and himself apart, a sensitive subject for him. Subaru merely smiled apologetically and offered his help, which was kindly rejected by Kakyou, saying that he(that means Subaru) needs his rest. Kakyou seemed to have realized that the intruder was Leia's twin sister, for once Leia herself showed Kakyou how similar she is to Krai and warned him that she might come upon them someday later to Tokyo, the Capital of Water.

"Get back to your positions, we'll hunt later on. Right now we need to ensure the security around the building. The intruder might have come in from the other entrance." Ordered Kamui, to which his words have immediate effects on those who respect him. Yuuto, Kusanagi and Nataku split up and search around the Tokyo Government Building to check on every exit available around it, securing them with one or two guards, while Satsuki and Kazuki searched around the building for any new and unknown entries.

Kakyou, Subaru and Kamui gathered and discussed the plans to save Leia from Krai's grasp. Both Subaru and Kamui had already witnessed how powerful Krai is, and it was only _thirty percent _of her original power. Krai had definitely held back from her true strength in order to make sure that Leia fell into her arms exactly as she had planned, or so they thought she did.

"Leia told me briefly that she's going to get the blue poppy soon from the last time we've met in my Dreamscape. Has she told you guys?" asked Subaru to both Kamui and Kakyou.

"Yes, she did. Truth to be told, she insisted that both she and Freya will only stay here for _one _night before she leaves for the blue poppy. I wonder if she has prepared herself to leave in the morning..." said Kakyou.

"No. She decided to drop by for a visit in the water reservoir and wake me up to ensure my further safety...." Subaru said.

"But not before Krai came in," Kamui cut in.

"And decided to have a _walk _with her early in the morning in God knows where." Finished Kakyou.

The trio grinned at each other. Stretching out his arms, Kamui accepted Kakyou's handshake. Kamui had finally broken into a resolve to bring Leia back from Krai's grasp, and as Subaru had said earlier, in whole or in pieces. Subaru and Kakyou both grinned at each other behind Kamui's back after he turned back to glance at the entrance of the Tokyo Government Building. They have succeeded in tricking Kamui to make his decision.

"Let's try our best to bring her back." Said Kakyou.

"Not _try._ We _must_ bring her back," insisted Subaru, who gave Kamui a good original you-better-do-it-right kind of glare. Kamui grinned back at his brother before something clicked in his head.

"Say, where's Freya?" wondered Kamui.

_Written on: 2__nd__ of January 2009_


	17. Tale 16: Changing Mermaid

A/N:Yes, I know I've updated this really really late, but the truth is, I'm running out of ideas for the next step of the story, and I'm really starting to worry about applying for colleges and stuffs and, yeah, stuff like that. Thank goodness that I don't have a boyfriend, because if I do, right when I'm worrying about fanfiction and college stuffs, I'll be registering for a vacancy in the asylum instead. Some of my friends told me that their boyfriends called and sms them _every single day _and I was like, o_o, seriously? When I ask them, isn't it bothersome or annoying to be receiving a "What are you doing?" or "Are you free now? Let's chat." sms, their reply was like, "No, I find it adorable and this is the way he shows how much he loves me." **WTH**! If I had a boyfriend that kept pestering me with a "What are you doing?" or "I'm boring oh, lets chat." sms, I'd rather not have one and focuses on how to get rich and buy lots and lots of anime and manga and my dream home and lots of chocolate and junks stored in every corner of my dream house's special compartment and built myself a large theater room and a large computer in my large room so that I can watch anime 24/7!!!! Oh, and a walk-in closet and I'll hire a maid to clean my house because I'm freakin' rich~!

...o_0*!... =_="

God, I'm rambling again. Ignore me when I do this alright?

Hope you'll like this chappie~ Reviews requested for the next chappie, thank you!

**Tale 16: Changing Mermaid**

"I trust that you encounter no fatal incidents throughout the journey here, Freya?"

The voice that suddenly ranged out from the dark cave atop a hill startled a silver-haired young girl, who just finished climbing up the hill and was just getting her rapidly beating heart to calm down by leaning on a cool and eroded stonewall, patting her chest in a fixed rhythm. It was one of the ways that Leia had taught her to calm her own heart down incase another round of episode attacked her frail body, which work wonders to her temper. Squeaking in shock, the voice earlier laugh gently at her silliness.

"Stop teasing me, Krai Nee-sama!" retorted Freya angrily, looking at the dark figure that slowly gain their colors and appearance beneath the dim lights of the sunlight.

"Hai, hai, my little princess. You're not hurt are you, or perhaps having sores in somewhere I can't see?" said Krai worriedly, patting and smoothed down Freya's long silvery hair once she gets close enough to her.

"No I don't, and I prefer not to be fussed over like a 5 year old," scoffed Freya, crossing her small arms around her chest and huffed arrogantly. Despite her having two mortal sisters, one soul sister that lives in Leia, and two very distant yet caring parents constantly pampering and fuss her around like a child, Freya doesn't like the love given by her parents, rather, she sticks close to her sisters a lot, especially Leia.

"But with your height, you look no older than 4..." said Krai. In the three twin sisters, Krai is the one that teases Freya the most, even going as far as to admit that she enjoys her little sister's presence around and finds that whenever Freya flustered in anger it amuses her greatly, which is adorable with her face flushed against her unhealthy pale complexion. Krai noticed that Freya's complexion had grown paler still since the last time she saw her. Her complexion strangely resembled onionskin, growing paper-like thin as the hours gone by.

"Krai Nee-sama!" insisted Freya angrily. Freya hated to be treated like a small and frail child. Her appearance might be similar to that of an 8 year old, but her mind is certainly not. Freya is a bright little girl, and somehow she feels smug that she is brighter than any other kids of her own age, and angry that she is treated as one. As annoyed as she can be, Freya secretly loves the attention that all her other sisters shower her with, be it love or protection. She keeps her love from her sisters, knowing that some of them, especially Krai, will gloat and tease her about it if she knew about them.

Smiling, Krai said, "Hai, hai, hai. Honestly, I can't deny the fact that Leia takes great care of you. You've grown so much since the last time I saw you. I must say, you resemble Leia a lot."

Cocking her small head to one side in confusion, Freya asked, "How's so?"

Krai's expression turned to that of a person in a dreamy state, smiling gently and unconsciously stroked Freya's chubby cheek. "She grumbles too whenever she is teased..."

Flushing with delight, Freya felt extremely please that she herself have similarities with one of her dearest sister. Knowing about the likeness, Freya felt more at ease in a strange way. She had always felt like a complete stranger and outsider whenever her sisters showered her with attention, unknown about the likeness they have as sisters because Freya looked nothing like her parents, Leia, Krai and Odria's parents, and that worries her greatly.

"You love her too don't you?" asked Krai, patting and smoothing down Freya's hair, marveling at the silkiness and softness of her silvery tresses.

"Yes, very. As I do with Odria Nee-sama and Krai Nee-sama too..."

Smiling, Krai knelt down to her sister's level and looked at her in the eyes. Knowing that Krai wants her full attention, Freya obeyed.

"If you love her, you _have_ to help me. You and I cannot back out from this once everything starts to end, and all of this is for the sake of Leia too..."

"If I help you, can we really spare Onee-sama from her fate?" Freya said in a sad voice. Her voice sounded so miserable that Krai wrapped her arms around her small shoulders to comfort her little sister.

"Yes, we can. But only if you agree to help me." Krai assured Freya in a gentle voice, patting her shoulders.

After thinking for a while, Freya nodded her head lightly, giving Krai her decision.

"Alright. I agree. I'll do anything to save her, as you and I love her too..."

Krai wrapped her arms around Freya's small and frail body and pulled her into a bear hug. Chin on Freya's surprisingly small head, Krai mumbled lightly, "Yes, I love her. So much that it hurts to be apart from her..." Feeling somewhat sure that Freya wouldn't hear any whisper, Krai whispered,

"...so much that I want to kill her..."

----------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of bells kept ringing in Leia's head. At first it was just a small and soothing lullaby of bells being blown in the wind, but gradually it gets louder and louder that it hurts to keep hearing. What she really wants right now is a moment of peace and solitude, away from the ringing and away from dreaming the same dream she had earlier when she is still in the Tokyo Government Building. Brows came together to form an annoyed frown, Leia raised her hands to block her hearing.

Only then, she found that she couldn't raise her arms.

There's no rope, there's no binding tapes. There's no spiked chain and there's certainly nothing binding her body. It's neither cold nor warm, and it doesn't seems like she's sitting or standing. Rather, the very first thing that she thought of when she had finally gained her consciousness was that she felt as if she's lying in a bathtub.

It was then she realized that she's not breathing normal air...

Snapping her eyes open, Leia found that she's underwater; a wave of sky blue water that's so blue it makes her skin looks blue. What she cannot explain is that she's not breathing normal air, but _air _in the water. One thing she's sure about is that she's not in a large tank, because her movement is restricted to a tight, see through box-like box.

Leia tried raising her head as far as the space of the box-like box allowed her to, she can see that her attire is no longer hers, rather, it felt smooth, which is unlike cotton-based clothings. As she is in a box-like box filled with blue water, her cloths carried the shade of the blue water around her, only it's not the exact blue, but a little darker than the blue water surrounding her.

Trying to turn around, she realized that there's something wrong with her body. The box-like box, to her horror, felt just like the same size of a glass coffin intended for a human use, and what's worse is that she felt as if both of her feet has been glued together when she tried wriggling her toes together as it felt stiff. She can't even feel her toes, let alone wriggle one.

Determined to break through the glass coffin's confinement, Leia raised her hands to hit the glass, only to find another horror. Her hands were no longer normal hands...

It's webbed.

"Hello Onee-sama. Awaken from slumber I see, and I believe you're enjoying yourself?" a sweet voice called out to Leia from above her. Looking up, she sees her own reflection reflected back at her. The exact same mouth, the exact same face, the exact same nose, the owner of those parts of face stared down at her with her brilliant blue eyes.

"What did you do to me Krai?" asked Leia calmly, only to receive another shock. Her voice has turned all bubbly, as if she's breathing in water and talking at the same time.

"Oh my, aren't your voice cute?" said Krai, pretending to look sweet and adored all of a sudden, one palm covering her mouth in a fake motion.

"I said, ..." bubbled Leia.

All humor dropped. Krai stare at Leia for a while, "Still that stubborn for answers I see."

Leia glared at Krai from within her confinement.

Raising both of her hands, Krai said, "Okay, okay, cut the glares out, you'll burn a hole right through the coffin I've made you."

".Me."

"Can't you see, Leia Nee-sama? I've made you into a mermaid. Like the dress? Our sister picks it for you..."

"Mermaid? Sister?"

"Seriously, I only change your human body to a mermaid's, I swear I didn't trample on your memories..."

"_Our _sister?!" exclaimed Leia, her voice now a deep bubbly tone.

"Now, now. Really, There's no need to get all hyped up, the water will boil!"

"_Freya! Where is Freya?! Where did you take her_?!"

"Leia Onee-sama, I'm here." A small voice called out from Leia's left view, to which Leia turned her head around and saw a small girl standing not far from her.

Wearing a pure white Lolita dress, Freya's long silver hair has been done up and pinned up with silvery white Sterling roses, leaving a few stray strands of fringes loose around her face. Both Freya and Leia only stare at each other, with Freya admiring her sister's form in the water looking exactly like a water nymph, while Leia was shocked to see Freya here, unhurt and wondering why is she here wearing that kind outfit. Freya was looking exceptionally sad, with her brows slanting up in the middle and pulling together, and yet a gentle smile graced her small lips. Then her lips start to tremble. Covering her mouth with her small hand, Freya starts to cough.

Leia panicked when she sees Freya's cough won't subside, and it worries her a lot whenever this happens, because she knew that whenever she cough, it means that an episode is attacking her.

_She won't last long_…thought Leia. Struggling, Leia called out to Krai.

"Krai, lets make a deal."

One elegant eyebrow raised in question, Krai said, "Oh? A deal? I love deals. Well then, lets first hear this curious deal of yours." Krai's eyes now focuses on Leia's eyes, and it surprises Leia that Krai's eyes has changed their colors to Leia's own dark cherry red.

_Just what is she going to do with us!? _Thought Leia.

Written On: 20th of February


	18. Tale 17: Prelude of the End

**A/N: Okay, so here's another chapter. Hope you readers enjoy this as well. I know it's very very late, and I know maybe this story is a little lame, but, oh well, I've crammed my brain to write these out, so, haha, I don't know what I'm saying...**

**Anyway, just enjoy. **

**P.S: Thanks a lot to my beta reader, err...well...you change names a lot, so, haha! You know who you are, and I know who you are, and we know who we are, so just keep it between us kay? Thanks a lot! **

**Oh! And don't forget to review or I'll wait another week, possibly month and months before I upload the next chappie~**

Tale 17: The Prelude of the End

"So, have any of you come across Freya yet?" asked Subaru worriedly. Leia loved her little sister more than anyone else, and will certainly go to the extent of sacrificing herself for her safety. The proof is in Leia's search journey for the Blue Poppy, a legendary cure for all fatal and un-contagious sicknesses or diseases.

Running along the corridors, Satsuki and Yuuto came down to a slow jog to meet up with Subaru at the end of the corridor, "Not in the west wing building; we've checked all the buildings and the holes in there, but there's no sign of her."

"Yeah, and this stupid guy here," thumbs motioning to Yuuto, who was standing beside her, "…also checked the impossibly small gutter hole that only fits as the temporary resting place for an underfed and skinny mouse. He thinks that a person who uses magic can shrink themselves that small and find some comfort among the skinny mouse." Satsuki smirked. One hand on one hip, Satsuki sighed in defeat.

One vein popping up on his forehead, Yuuto countered back her accusation. "It's called 'precautious'! Besides, I found something useful in there too, so now I hold more power than you-"

"It's not _in _the gutter hole, it's _near _the gutter hole, which you gave to me and now that power lies in my hand-" barged in Satsuki.

"Because you forced me to do so that you could be the one to go all victorious and smirky-"

"G-Guys…" Subaru sweat dropped. Both of them were still bickering against each other, at least, until…

"Are you guys done with all the necessary checking around the west wing?" asked Kamui, who had just walked by and turned around the corner when he heard the bickering between Satsuki and Yuuto, all the while keeping a straight face ahead of him.

Both of them fell silent immediately.

Realizing what Kamui had asked, Yuuto let out a nervous laugh and ruffled his hair, "Yeah! We've done it! We've checked everywhere-"

"And every gutter hole-" said Satsuki sarcastically.

"And I-"

"_We_-" Satsuki corrected him.

"-found this near the entrance of one of the west wing's office."

Yuuto handed a bundle of pink embroidered cloth to Kamui, who took it nonchalantly and unfolded it. The sheer size of the cloak and the color of it well indicated that the owner of the cloak is a child.

"Freya's cloak? Why was it here?" asked Yuuto stupidly. Yuuto had immediately ran here with Satsuki the moment they found it, and had not bothered to check what it was.

"It would seem that Freya had escaped from the hole." Said Kamui in a matter-of-factly way.

"But that's impossible! That hole is so small that only a skinny and starved mouse would fine refuge there! And besides, the cloak is soaked." once again, Satsuki said sarcastically to Yuuto, who sighed in defeat.

"You might have forgotten, Leia and Freya are Special Siblings, and Special Siblings have certain powers. She might have used one of her given powers to escape, or someone from the outside that has the same powers helped her to escape." Kamui explained this while thinking about other things. As far as he can tell about Freya, the sick little girl never left her cloak behind, even when she's in the building and far away from the acidity of the acid rain.

Subaru patted Kamui's shoulder, who turned around and instinctively gave the bundle of cloak to Subaru.

Flipping it and feeling the texture of the cloak, Subaru said, "This cloak is specially designed to hold in warmth and keep out moisture by the thick cotton inlaid inside the cloth and the acid-repellent material, so it acts as a shield against the acid rain and also, at the same time, acts as a warm frock. Leia's sister is extremely frail in health, and constantly seeking warmth to keep her frail body warm. What Freya wouldn't give up to have warmth is this, so it might be something that Freya wanted us to know."

"What is it then?" asked Yuuto, eyebrows knitted together in concentration, trying his best to look serious.

Subaru glanced at everyone and his gaze fell upon Kamui, who looked as if his concentration was fixed on the ground. _Clearly, he's worried_, thought Subaru. "This cloak was made by Leia, so it might signify her well being. From the condition of the cloak, it's soaking wet-"

Remembering something, Satsuki blurted out, cutting Subaru's words. "We found it soaking in a pool of water that was not polluted with acid…"

Nodding once, Subaru said, "And that would mean that Leia is currently _underwater_."

"Underwater? But there are only two places that have water unpolluted by acid…"

Placing his hand on his chin, Subaru said with a concentrated expression. "Yes, it might appear to be that. But the water reservoir under the Tokyo Government Building is drained dry, and it would seem as if Krai is in league with the Tower, so both Leia and Freya, and possibly Krai, are in other places…"

Silence fell around the place.

Then, just as Kamui was about to say 'split up' again, Subaru blurted out, "Where did you say the guard that saw Krai kidnapping Leia head to?"

Thinking, Yuuto said slowly, "I think he said she was heading towards the Northwest."

"Northwest…what is in the Northwest…?" asked Subaru, looking over at Kamui.

A sudden revelation fell onto Kamui and the rest, remembering what and why Leia came to Tokyo Government Building at first. One by one, the pieces all came together to form a shocking solution.

"The Hills of Serpents…The place where the Blue Poppy grows…" whispered Kamui, completely baffled by the reason.

--------------------------------------

Back in the Hills of Serpents…

"You know what? You're no good in making deals, and so, the deal is not made." Krai said naively, her voice bouncing off the rocky surface and replaying the echoes.

Fuming, Leia exclaimed, "The hell with you Krai! Just what do you want!? Leave Freya and I alone already damn it!"

Smiling, Krai sat on top of the glass confinement imprisoning Leia and pointed at her, "I don't want _your _deal, but I want mine…"

Leia gritted her teeth in anger, eyebrows knitted together tightly.

Standing up, Krai said loudly, "Just watch what the rest of us sisters are going to do, and you'll promise me to be good and stay where you are until the ritual is over-"

Rolling her eyes, Leia cut Krai's nonsense and grumbled, voice gradually rising louder the more she said, "In case you didn't realize, you're practically telling me that the sky is not blue and that I should abandon all forms of logic and throw it out the window!"

Snapping her fingers, Krai said happily, "Exactly! Hey, I like this game, let's play this again sometime!"

Freya sweat dropped, Leia gritted her teeth, while Krai realizes something in the short moment of silence.

"Just in case you didn't apprehend, you're practically forgetting that I know everything about you, and I know everything about our family, and that I understand the contract made between the Phoenix and the holder of the Blood Crystal, and soon, I'm going to change everything…"

Turning around to walk towards the pool of acidic water, Krai stopped at her tracks and turned around abruptly. "Oh, and before I forget, I've already extracted Odria's soul and the Blood Crystal from your body-"

Eyes widened in shock, Leia cried out, "Odria?! Where is she!? What did you do to her!?"

"Don't worry, she's somewhere safe, and now your body belongs to you and you only. I've actually done you a great favor, so thank Ore-sama(A/N: It means "The Great me")."

Sweat dropping, Leia silently mumbled in an audible tone, "I can't believe that I actually have to stare at my reflection and itching to throw 'myself' every bit of insult I know…"

"I understand, it happens to me sometimes too…" said Krai, smiling all the while. Turning around, Krai whispered quietly, "…when I stare into my own image in the water..."

_Written on: 20th of April 2009_


	19. Tale 18: The Beginning of the End

A/N: I am sooo sorry!!! I actually forgotten that this chappie has already been betaed!!! Msn blocked and closed my account and accusing me of spamming, when instead, it's some idiots out there who uses my account and send them!!! I didn't even know what the bloody hell is spam and how it functions at the start when it came to me that I could no longer read my mails!!!! So...any messages, PE me. That's the only way I could know that I have mails...God knows how long it'd took them to finish concluding that I'm innocent and give me back my account! It's coming to 3 weeks!!!!

*Sigh~* I miss my account...and I'm cranky. I just woke up from a nap. My idiot of an elder sister promised to give me back my computer, then I've fallen asleep while waiting, then she won't wake me up!!! I'm sooo cranky now...and starving...

Anywho and anyhow, enjoy. I hope you'll love it.

**Tale 18: The Beginning of the End**

"Now that you've gotten what you want, our sisters and my Blood Crystal, what are you going to do Krai? What's your plan? What are you planning to get?" asked Leia, finally calming down and 'breathing' deep breaths to keep herself from fuming. The water surrounding her is surprisingly cooling. She felt comfortable with it, and somehow, it made her too comfortable that she felt sleepy.

Krai shakes her head in disagreement, clicking her tongue in response, "Tut tut, patience, Leia Nee-sama, patience. You'll know it when everything ends."

Rolling her eyes in disbelief, Leia retorted, "Do you suppose that I would just stand by and doze off when you have all the time and freedom to scheme your unspeakable desires?"

Silence veiled the trio for a millisecond. "Well, come to speak of it, I don't think you would-"

And Leia waited.

"But I'm not fond of quizzes, so I'm not going to answer you no matter what…" continued Krai in a much more naïve and childlike tone.

Leia groaned in defeat.

Seeing Leia all overthrown and pondering on her defeat, Krai smiled. All Leia wanted were answers that would lead to the confusion and bickering. To amuse her for a while longer, Krai said, "Well, perhaps, if there is still time after everything ends, I'll tell you what you want to know."

Leia breathed a breath of utter defeat. "That would mean after your conniving plans succeeded-"

"Leia Nee-sama, that's no conniving plan! Mou, to use that kind of word, its heart wrenching you know?" Krai said, cutting through Leia.

Pausing, Leia's eyes widened in disbelief, "Really? Well, I won't say I'm sorry-"

"But you just did..." pointed Krai.

"-because I purposely did that." Said Leia, ignoring whatever remarks Krai had said earlier.

Slapping a hand onto her chest, Krai said with her eyes closed. "That's alright; I accept your apology-"

Once again, a moment of silence veiled upon the trio, with Freya sweat dropping.

"Speaking with you is like conversing with a recorder." Leia mumbled loudly.

Sighing, Krai stated, "Don't worry, the plan's all going well…"

"Really? Then show me how I am going to thwart your plan."

"Once again, Leia Nee-sama, why do you have to ruin each and every one of my carefully planned plans?"

"Because what I want is the Blue Poppy for Freya, and each and every time I tried to take a step closer to the Blue Poppy, you come right at the wrong moment to stop me-"

"Seriously, Leia Onee-sama, you actually believe in it?"

"Of course I believe in it! It's the one and only cure to Freya's sickness-"

"No. I mean you actually believe in the Blue Poppy?"

"What do you think I am? Three? What makes yo-" Leia paused for a moment, a sudden presumption dawned upon her.

"You can't be serious Krai…"

"Yes. In fact, I'm trying to be serious. I mean, it was meant to be a lie so as to set a trap for you…"

"You're going too far Krai!"

"I never knew that you'd hang onto it for dear life!"

"I hang onto every possible chance that'll cure Freya!"

"The Blue Poppy doesn't exist! Live with it! It's a lie! A big fat lie made by Krai Hikari, in other words, me!"

For the third time, silence fell.

"I'm speechless." Leia remarked in monotone.

"I'm speechless too. But seeing as there's so little time left for us, I won't stop talking."

Suddenly, a wave of light surrounded and wrapped around Freya's neck, slowly revealing the long invisible chain that trailed behind her neck. Leia's eyes widened in shock as the bright light surrounding the chain dimmed and, now that it is bare from any invisible confinement, the chain is exposed to both Leia and Krai.

Metal, no, possibly harder and much more indestructible to mere weapons, the chain bore a look of inferiority, and by one glance, it stuns one into a state of stupor, not because of how suddenly it appeared, but in awe at how exotic and advance the carvings upon the chains were. It was obvious that it's not made from mere metal, but created, possibly from the knowledge of the power of enchantment.

"So, it has begun." Krai said. Leia was stunned when the chain appears, but Krai's words awakened her from her stupor. Glancing at Krai, Leia saw, for a short moment, a sad look pass over Krai's eyes. Briefly, the sad look upon her look-alike twin staggered her resolve to take revenge. Her heart responds to sadness, and she cannot possibly kill someone that still has a sense of sorrow. Leia mind drifted in and out, reflecting over the happy days before Krai was released, the days when she and everyone else in the Hikari family laughed and spent time together…

A booming voice shocks Leia from her thoughts, and immediately, she saw what had caused the loud noise. Freya, who still has the chain over her neck, looked back to Leia for the last time, waved and mouthed a goodbye, and turned her head sadly away from her favorite sister. Seemingly, one would have thought that Freya is soon to be presenting herself for a walk on the plank, and most of the part about it is true.

"Krai? Krai! Why is Freya walking away from us? What is the chain on her neck!? Why!? Tell me! Krai!" Leia said in a frantic tone, panicking.

Krai let the moment drag longer to avoid answering, but seeing Leia won't stop pestering her for answers, Krai said slowly, "That, my dear sister, is the Weight of Death, and that chain, represents how long Freya's life is left…"

Looking around, Leia saw, for a split second, the chain around Freya's delicate neck. "It's short...It's freakin' short! What does this mean!? Krai!?"

"You know what it means!" snapped Krai, losing her patience. Leia's eyes widened incredulously. Standing up, Krai draws in a deep breath and said, "It means that she's-"

"No! No! I don't believe it, you're lying! No! Freya won't die! My sister won't die!" exclaimed Leia, tears now flowing from her eyes, but it's not obvious because she's still underwater.

"Face it!" Krai snapped angrily, "She's dying! Face it! It's now or never, or don't look at all if you don't want to face it!"

"Freya…Freya…come back…" Leia slowly said, as if to coax Freya to not face her 'Death'.

Right at that moment, a carved door with its surface encrusted with various forms of gemstones and crystals materialized slowly from the ground, a door so immense that it's close to immeasurable, a door so black that by its sheer color, the surrounding of the door more or less turns as black as the door. It continued to rise and rise from the ground, and finally, nearing the ceiling of the cave, the door stopped rising from the ground portal, and in an agonizingly slow velocity, the door begun to open.

Mist and a light so bright that it shames the sunlight comes into view from behind the door, followed by a strange sense lingering in the air that brought a heavy dejected feeling upon Leia's shoulder, as if sorrowful burden has finally begun to take a toll on her hidden emotions. Feeling her tears flowing, Leia struggles to shake off the dejected feeling, and yet it does nothing to the flowing tears, which flowed even like greased lightning. Strangely, she felt immensely sad.

A figure of a man slowly came into view. The light from behind the man had blocked Leia from seeing the man's features, but as soon as he came across the door and light shined upon his visage, Leia bet that even a madman would have known that this man is no human.

He's far too beautiful to be a human.

Calf-length boots with heels, a long black trench coat, black eyes, pale complexion and hair so blond that it almost looked white. Dressed from head to toes in black, the man is obviously not human.

"Your time as a human is up, The Vessel of the Blood Crystal, Leia Hikari." the man said, his voice booming of inferiority sounded very much like thunder.

"What? I don't understand…" mumbled Leia, who was still lying underwater in the glass coffin.

Sighing, Krai stands up from her crouching position. "I know, and I'm well prepared for it."

Leia looked from the blonde man to Krai, and back again to the blonde man, confused with the current situation.

The blonde man casually pulled out a short scroll from his many pockets and started to recite the content of the scroll with a monotone voice. "You are aware that you are to die the moment Freya Hikari's soul departs with Death from this world?"

Leia's eyes widened in skepticism. _I am to die when…Freya dies?_Leia thought.

"Yes." answered Krai instead of Leia, as if she was Leia herself.

"You are aware that you are the vessel for the Blood Crystal?"

Leia's heart skipped a beat. The Blood Crystal had brought many misfortunes to Leia, and that includes her aplastic anaemia illness, which the Blood Crystal had further amplified the pain for the deficiency of haemoglobin in her blood and caused her body to respond violently towards the condition. All in all, she hates the Blood Crystal.

Smiling, Krai answered, "Yes, absolutely."

"And is the soul without a body within you?"

Nodding once, Krai said, "Yes."

"Then, are you aware that you are to be sealed as the Guardian of the Earth until you are released from your duty?" asked the blonde man, rolling up the scroll and placing it back into his pocket.

Drawing a deep breath, Krai answered with an air of confidence. "Yes."

"Well then, I shall require you to do three tasks before I seal you as the Guardian of the Earth."

_What the…_thought Leia. _Guardian of the Earth?_

"Have you ever wondered what will happen if I refuse to perform the three tasks that you are about to give?"

Nobody moved.

"Then I will have to force you to abide my orders by taking control of your mind."

"Just joking, just joking." Krai assured with both hands up in the air. "What is it then, the three tasks?"

"One is to require you to fill this goblet with your blood to the brim." The blonde man said while fishing out a pewter goblet from his pocket and a silver blade.

"The second task requires you to swallow the Elixir of Immortality." Said the blonde man, and again, fished out a small glass vial containing one glowing pill.

Smirking, Krai said, "Then I will be immortal forever?"

_Immortal!_ Thought Leia, _so this is what Krai has wanted all this time, taking my place so that she can acquire the Elixir of Immortality!_

This time, it was the blonde man's turn to smirk. "No. It will allow only your soul to be immortal, but your remains will rot."

Krai winced upon hearing the words from the blonde man's mouth, "Rot, that's a harsh word."

Grinning, the blonde man replied. "Indeed it is."

"Well then," said Krai, drawing a deep calming breath. Taking the goblet from the blonde man's hand, Krai sliced her wrist without much as a wince and let her blood pour into the goblet. As soon as it was full to the brim, Krai pressed on one of the nerves in her arm and the blood stopped flowing immediately.

The blonde man opened a portal with a snap of his hand and the goblet slowly vanished, leaving nothing behind. Taking the glass vial containing the elixir from the blonde man's other hand; Krai slowly uncorked the vial, staring at the content.

"This is it then," whispered Krai, her expression solemn and not a hint of utter victory. "The end of everything. I sincerely wish that you won't ever know the truth for fear of hurting you further, but it is inevitable, and it is only by time that you will learn about the truth of everything."

Eyes darting back towards where Leia now laid in the glass coffin, Krai mouthed the words that she had intended to say a long time ago before drinking the elixir, "Goodbye, the other me."

_Written on: 21st of April_

**Glossary:**

Aplastic Anaemia- Which is the same meaning as Anemia. I'm using scientific names. It bears the condition of deficiency of haemoglobin in the blood, and for Aplastic Anaemia, it is caused by failure of the bone marrow to produce sufficient red blood-cells; the amount of haemoglobin can be increased only by transfusion.

Haemoglobin- Which is the same meaning as Hemoglobin. Same, I'm using scientific names. It is protein containing iron; the red pigment of red blood-cells. It combines with oxygen and, to a smaller extent, with carbon dioxide to carry them to and from the tissues.

I got this information from The Reader's Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary Volume Three. For more information, go wiki.


	20. Tale 19: The Face Behind The Mask

A/N: Now I realize what I've miss doing at the last chappie. I FORGOT TO THANK MY BETA!!!!

Well, erm, since you always change your penname, I'll just call you little Vampire, or Vampiress, or bloodsucker- wait, it sound like some sort of insult. How bout Vampy? No, it sounds like a kids nickname. Ah!! The Lover of the Night!! Splendid name isn't it!? Haha! Erm...well...are you in love with the night?

On second thought, I still think the old Vampire sounds nicer a little. So, little Vampire, MANY THANKS FROM ME~~~!!!

Enjoy~

**Tale 19: The Face Behind the Mask**

-Krai's POV-

It always pleases me how Leia, my twin sister, always finds excuses to sneak in down here to see me.

I'm dirty, in fact, I'm soaked in muddy water and dust from head to toe, and I don't think I smell nice either. This place and the view outside the small bar window that is built right above the grounds of the Hikari's garden is my whole world. Occasionally, when it rained, muddy water will flow in from the window, and I will have to find somewhere else to sleep, the same goes for winter, where the air down here is so cold that I don't feel anything anymore after a while; for my body has grown numb from cold and pain.

It was by sheer luck that I saw her, my twin sister, living so happily without a care in the world. Compared to me, she was so beautiful, and so innocent that I don't think she knows about me. Those red lips, those cherry-red eyes, that porcelain-white skin of hers; I want her.

First it started out as an admiration, then gradually, I begun to realize that I'm obsessed with her. From the small window and the laughing sound that I heard, clearly, it seems to me that she is very much loved by everyone. I'm not jealous, in fact, I like to hear her laugh, because it made me smile, then little by little, I started to believe something; I love her, the other me.

I had abandoned all hopes of her ever going to talk with me, or fulfilling my desires of wanting her to laugh with me, because we're just so different. She's clean and beautiful and much loved, while I'm nothing but a dirty looking sister of hers that nobody cared to know about, and for the first time ever, I cried.

It was weird how all those people always talk about coincidence so easily as if it happened to them every single day, and I don't believe in such crap, at least, until now.

I never knew that my sobbing sound echoed to the garden, and, I admit it, coincidently, she stumbles across the trap door leading to where I am, and bring light into my world.

From that day onward, she will always come by and talk with me, sneaking in sweet snacks and warm blankets for me, and laugh aloud with that bell-like voice of hers when I look baffled. Finally, my wish is granted. The happy moments lasted for a short while, and we're happy, until Freya comes along.

I learn from Leia that Freya, our youngest sister, is a Seer of the Future, and is very cute and adorable. I wanted to see her very much, and all Leia talks about is how cute she is when she smiles and how adorable when she rubs her eyes. It only serves to fuel my desire to see her, and one day, unexpectedly, she brought her here.

Looking at Freya is just like looking at Leia's mirror image. So beautiful, so perfect, and strangely, so pitiful. Her hair is pure black, and looked very much like any other healthy person, but strangely, when I see her, I see images of her crying in fear after seeing a nightmarish future, and she, right at that moment, saw my future.

When she was old enough, we discover another ability of hers. She can travel in dreams as freely as breathing, and this, we hide from our parents. Only Freya and I know about it, not even Leia is allowed to know, for from the moment our eyes touched for the first time in my world, we knew that we're destined to die for someone that we love.

Then, I discover that I too, possess the very same ability as Freya does, and that we had another sister, Odria, living in Leia's body. She, too, had told us that it is our fate to die for someone we love so much, and together, we carefully plan for the future, enduring and hiding the fact that we will hurt Leia. We had promised that she is to know nothing about what we will do, at least, until the end, until everything has been done, but by doing what we are going to do for the future.

And I am to endure the pain of having to hurt the one person that I love so much.

I always kept my promise and endure it, but at times, I just can't bear to hurt her. Yes, she's strong, and not the normal frail noble lady of the house, but I just can't bear the thought of hurting my mirror image, for the feeling of hurting her is the same as torturing myself. It was so hard and difficult, and at times I have to bite my own tongue when hurting her, and hold back tears when I see her illness attacking her at night. For so long I have been holding my ground, and finally, it's taking a toll on me when I accidentally slashed apart her long hair, and now, permanently, we look different once more.

Then, the inevitable time came for Freya to leave. That little girl, so adorable, and shockingly brave for one her age. She, too, like Odria and me, loved Leia very much, and it dawned upon me that perhaps Leia had a kind of positive charm that makes others get close to her. I smiled to myself whenever I thought about this, because, after all, Leia grew up under the light, and it's not strange at all that she was born to be loved, and not to be hurt.

While travelling, I searched for any myths and legends related to the Phoenix and the Blood Crystal, and, years later, I found it in one of the ruins in the temple worshipping the Phoenix. It appears that when the war started, people begun to abandon their belief and stopped worshipping the gods, even the Phoenix, which really existed. I saw, with my very own eyes, how sad the Phoenix looked, so sad that my tears shed for the second time in my life.

From the Phoenix, I found ways to save her, only that it requires a small sacrifice; the siblings of the chosen one will sacrifice their life and take the chosen one's place, and right at that moment, I had decided how am I going to repay her for all the horrible things that I have done to hurt her. _I am going to be Leia Hikari after I die_.

There are, in reality, other Guardians, which made me not the only or the first Guardian appointed as the chosen one. From what I heard in really old myths, there are 4 other Guardians; Wood, Water, Fire, and Metal. It surprises me that there is a Guardian of Metal, but the myth states that there's far too much minerals and metals in the Earth, and that, is in dire need to guard it from over-mined by humans, lest that it affects the stability of the Earth.

I understood clearly why the Appointer, which is the blonde man, gave me two task; one for my blood, the other for the elixir. My blood contains the Blood Crystal, which I had transferred to my blood as a vessel from Leia's body, preventing it to ever harm my treasured sister's body ever again, and which will fortify the strength of the elixir. There is no such thing as Immortality, but Immortality in Exchange truly existed, and to acquire it, one needs to give up something that has the power of Immortality. Since the Blood Crystal came from the Phoenix, and Phoenix is the one and only true Immortal in this world, it serves it's effect fine enough, which I felt it the moment the elixir touches my lips.

Aside from what I felt when I drank the elixir, the moment I drank it, my time as a human was up, and my time as Leia Hikari officially starts.

And my time when I can see Leia too, comes to an end.

I want her to live, Freya wants her to live, Odria too, wants her to live. None of us have the courage to bear the thoughts that we'll never see her alive again while we live, and we'd rather die ourselves and never to see her again, just to know that she's still alive. Leia, strange to say, is a part of us. She is the reason why we came this far, and she too, is the reason why we felt that our sacrifice is worth it. We won't die in sadness, instead, we'll die in happiness, just by knowing that we'd saved her life.

Just by knowing that Leia Hikari, our most beloved person, lives to see the future.

-Freya's POV-

Truth to be told, I am scared.

The first time I had a nightmare, Leia Nee-sama was the first person to stay awake by my side and sang me a lullaby. It was the first time that someone was willing to sacrifice something for me, and it was also the first time that I've seen what the future looks like.

It was horrible. Beyond horrible. And for a moment there, I wished that I'd never had this gift. But I know, it is inevitable, and it is fate that the youngest Hikari gets the special treatment; the Seer of the Future.

My illness struck when I turned 6, and slowly, my hair turned silver white, and my complexion paled. My health deteriorated, and as soon as I found that my hair was turning white, something heavy begun to fix itself upon my neck, and the first thing I saw when I looked into the mirror was a pewter chain, carved and elaborated in symbols and ancient seals, and standing behind me, is a boy with hair as black as ebony, and eyes as cold as a dead corpse, and he looked no older than 12 years old.

And from then on too, he never left my side.

Leia Nee-sama can't seem to see him, and everyday, he'll take out one ring from the chain dangling behind my neck, saying that it is required as a token for me to go to the Realm of the Dead, in other words, the other side. He states that the higher the quality of the chain, the better I stand a chance to cross the bridge leading to the World Tree safely, and once in a while, when the air is too tense and silent, he'll take out a small black silk pouch and throw it into the air, only to catch it in his hand, as if playing with it. When he did that, I can clearly hear the sound of metal clinking against each other in the pouch, which he used to store the rings from the chain around my neck.

Then I met him. Kamui.

I knew by that moment that he is to be with my sister, and I know that he will never harm my sister, _if,_both he and my sister are in love. Leia Nee-sama will scoff if I tell her anything about love, so I kept quiet.

What a Seer of the Future won't give up to have is their freedom of speaking. Being a Seer of the Future is no fun, and I can never tell anyone what is going to happen. Every time I tried, my throat clamped together tightly, and I can't breathe, until I throw away the thought of telling other people. It's agonizing to live this way, and I was glad when the boy told me that it's time for me to leave this world. Yes, the boy is Death, and he'll be my guide to the other side.

The only sad thing is that I will never see Leia Nee-sama again, who is so kind to me and looks best when she's smiling, or Krai Nee-sama, who just loves to tease and is too, the one person that loves Leia more than any of us sisters, or Odria Nee-sama, who is very much the same as Krai Nee-sama, since they're the same person.

What I won't sacrifice to see her smile once more…

_Written On: 21th of April 2009_


	21. Tale 20: The Inevitable Outcome

Tale 20: The Inevitable Outcome

Leia's eyes widened as she stares at the vial of Elixir, now being drunk by Krai, decreases ever so slowly, the one strange thing is that Krai drunk in gulps, while the vile decreases only a little.

"What…is the meaning of this…?" whispered Leia in skepticism, slightly curious as to why Krai would say goodbye with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

All she knows is that Krai had taken in the Elixir of Immortality, and that Freya's condition is still left unknown, and all she knows is that Freya is 'gone'. Would gaining the Elixir of Immortality be Krai's goal all this time? And the strange blonde man. He mentioned her name in monotone, and doesn't seems to notice that the real Leia is currently underwater.

_He cannot see me_…thought Leia. _This is the one possibility that I have, he cannot see me, and that assuming whomever that currently takes hold of the Blood Crystal is me, a vial of Elixir is given to be the next Guardian. It's impossible to break free from this confinement, how could I tell him that I'm the real Leia!?_

For the moment when Leia is thinking, Krai had finished drinking the Elixir, dropping the vial to the ground that resulted in the small glass to break into a million pieces, the sound of the vial broken echoed loudly in the cave, startling Leia.

"I'm done with the two ridiculous task, now, pray tell, what's the third task?" asked Krai, slightly breathless after consuming the Elixir. A slight tinge of deep brown starting to color her hair, face now the color of pasty white. For a brief moment, Leia wondered if it is the side effect of the Elixir.

Smiling, the blonde man walk towards Krai. "The third task is as simple as breathing, but you have to make it quick as you don't have any additional time to do other things."

Rolling her eyes, Krai said, "Spit it out then."

"The third task is…specially made for you…" taking Krai's hands in his, the blonde man kissed it gently, "My lady…"

Krai merely raised her eyebrows. "What is it?"

Grinning, the blonde man whispered, "One wish…"

"Wish?" Repeated Krai stupidly.

"I will grant one wish for you. No matter how impossible it is, I will grant it." Looking up to Krai, the blonde man flashed a perfect smile to her, now looking more and more pale and hair turning dark brown.

"Well then, since you've offered it, I did have one wish to make…"

"Name it, and I shall grant it my lady…"

Looking back towards where Leia now lay, Krai smiled to her and said, "I want the other me to be happy, forever, for eternity, for the her that resides in this world, and for the other her that resides in the other world. I want those who are born with her soul to be happy."

"Your wish is my command, my lady." As soon as he said those words, he disappeared, and Krai knelt down onto the floor.

Suddenly realizing that she's no longer confined in the glass coffin and that her hands were no longer webbed, Leia proceeds to free herself by untying the rope that currently binding her legs together. As soon as she's free, she ran to Krai's side.

Krai's hair is growing longer, and they're now a full shade of dark brown. Her skin becomes more transparent and opaque looking as time goes by, and the strange thing is, she's still smiling.

"Krai…" was what Leia said. She was speechless, and she still doubts whether Krai was still the one against her or siding with her. Lies have been made to make her believe, and she didn't want to hear another lie from Krai again.

And although Krai had consumed the Elixir of Immortality, she didn't look one bit like someone that had gained immortality, rather, she looks as if her energy is drained.

_She looks as if she's dying._

Krai looked up to stare into her mirror image twin, and noticing her skin complexion is fading, Krai inwardly cursed for the lack of time and effect that the Elixir had on her. "Leia…come here…I want to tell you something before I leave…"

Startled by Krai's urgency in tone and noted the lack of honorifics that Krai so loved to use on her, Leia instinctively moved forward towards where Krai now knelt. Kneeling down to the same level as her, Leia stared at the other her that now looks so transparent that the stonewalls behind her looks clear as if nothing was there at the first place.

As soon as she spots Leia near her, Krai immediately fired off the truth of everything.

"You didn't change into a mermaid-" Leia raised her eyebrows in surprise. "-The water was what made you believe that you're a mermaid-"

"-Yes, I notice that my legs are binded-"

"-so as to made you believe that you've turned into a mermaid. Please don't interrupt me, considering that my time is barely sufficient for me to stay here any longer."

Eyes closing and sighing in defeat, Leia said quietly, "Alright then, I won't interrupt."

"I'm glad you're a good girl." Taking in a deep breath, Krai continued, "Freya is fine, she's in a better place, and so is Odria. Both of them are fine."

Leia sighed in relief, mumbling, "That's good."

"You are fated to die here today; Leia, but I've taken your place. It's not just to acquire the elixir; I do it willingly to ensure that your future is not bounded by duty and fate."

Leia make a puzzled expression.

"Fate gave us a cruel fate, and a crueler fate is given to you compared to us sisters. You, the vessel for the Blood Crystal and the container securing our bodiless sister's soul, is to die this very day, and I took your place."

"But, you didn't die…"

"I am considered as good as dead the moment I drank the Elixir of Immortality, for it only preserves my soul, not my body, and the result is this…" gesturing to her now transparent and dark brown hair condition, Krai continued. "The vessel of the Blood Crystal is to be appointed as a the new Guardian, and once one is appointed, one will be tied to the very element that one bears as a title for as long as they're not forcefully taken away from that place, and in my case, I'm to be a Guardian of the Earth for as long as I'm not sealed. Tokyo 'dies' because the previous Guardian of the Earth is sealed, and thus, is branded as 'dead', and so, a new one is to be appointed regardless of the sacrifices that needs to be made. This, is Fate. Fate took away our lives, Fate took away our future, Fate separated us from the start…"

By now, Leia's eyes brimmed with unshed tears, of what the unbelievable things that both relieved and saddens her. Taking in shaken breaths, she continued to listen to her twin sister's explanation.

"Father and Mother committed suicide. All I did was walking around and found myself drenched in blood trying to find you. From the moment you look at me with hate, and the moment Freya told me about the possible future you'll have, I have preserved my warm heart and frozen it to hurt you, even going as far as to lie to you, so as to ensure that you'll walk the path we sisters created for you safely without any possible kind of harm befell upon you. We wished you to be happy and safe, and now it's the time for the prince to appear- Ah! There he is, right on time…"

Hearing a series of boots clicking and thudding on the ground, Leia turned around and there, as Krai had said earlier, standing near the cave's entrance, was Kamui.

A dull thud sounded right beside Leia, and once again, Leia turn around to find Krai had laid her head on Leia's thigh, smiling ever so softly with her gradually fading expression.

Kamui appears to look stunned when he spots Leia's red eyes and tears on her face, and another transparent-looking 'Leia' on her lap, but quietly, still panting from the race up to the cave, edged towards her.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Leia said in a tearful tone, "One of the biggest lie you've made is to die in my place…"

Still maintaining her smiling expression, Krai reached up to stroke Leia's hair. "Don't cry Leia, it's just me dying and the rest of us sisters-"

"Do you suppose I'll be happy with that!?" The cave echoed with Leia's exclamation, startling the other newly arrived; Subaru, Kakyou, Nataku and Satsuki. The rest were still back in the Tokyo Government Building, guarding it from the Towers.

"No…never…but at least you'll live…You cannot possibly imagine how agonizing it is to be tied to a place without freedom, but I'm used to it, so it's fine with me…"

Leia kept crying, realizing that everything is done for her sake, and that she had mistaken Krai for something that she isn't is by the nature of herself, and that sheer realization and fact made her feeling guilty and helpless.

"Stop crying…" whispered Krai, now wiping away the tears staining Leia's cheek.

"You might have never cried before! Don't you know it's hard not to cry when our loved ones die!?"

"No…" Krai whispered, eyes drooping slightly. "I…forgot…how to cry…"

Both Kamui and Subaru 'heard' that Krai's hear is slowly ceasing to beat, and that her lungs had already failed her…She'll die of oxygen deficiency.

Struggling to keep talking, Krai's words came in parts, "Cry…on my behalf…then…" she had whispered, smiling ever so softly. "Cry…for us…sisters…be…half…"

Krai's last thought is that when she takes Leia away from the Tokyo Government Building;

_Krai leave with her trophy hanging on her shoulder. Flashing back to the time when she twisted Leia's wrist, Krai had secretly scratched Leia with the poison that she had applied on her nails. The poison that Krai made is powerful enough to make a grown human lose consciousness in seconds. Smiling in a sad smile without anyone looking at her, Krai whispered silently, "If only there was no Blood Crystal...," _

_**"We would never be separated from the start…"**__** muttered Krai in her heart**_

The last thing Krai heard before her body fades was Leia's cries of agony.

Written On: 1st of May 2009


	22. Tale 21The Fruit of the End

Tale 21: The Fruit of the End

For hours after Krai's disappearance, Leia released all of the emotions that she had kept deep in her heart, pouring them out through tears and sobs. The group that came out to search for her had arrived just in time to hear the important parts; Krai protected Leia from her fate.

Kamui and Subaru stayed with her in the cave, letting her pour out her restrained emotions while the others were ordered to go back to the Tokyo Government Building in case the People of the Towers came to wreak havoc, and on the way back, they noticed something different.

The familiar hissing sound that the acid rain inflicted upon the objects on the ground along the way back to the Tokyo Government Building had slowly ceased to sound and the rain no longer hurt.

Slowly, the rain started to cease pouring down from the sky, and the dark and gloomy clouds no longer hovered around the sky. Instead, the nostalgic feeling of sunshine and heat coursed through everyone's skin.

The rate of acidity in the rain decreased drastically after Krai's death. Supposedly the truth that she was assigned as the Guardian of the Earth is real, and that she has finally starting to heal the world from its absence of a Guardian. And briefly, for a second, Leia saw her look-alike twin in one of the vast clearings of empty lands, grass and sprouts starting to grow; life was once again restored to the lands and Earth, and as a start of appreciating the life that Krai and her sisters had given her, Leia smiled to the new Guardian of the Earth.

-----------------------------------------

People of the Tower and the People of the Source finally came to a decision that humanity, or in a more precise word, what was left of the remaining humans in Tokyo, should be united in order to live through the future, and so, since the Tokyo Government Building is by far the most habitable place for humans, the People of the Tower moved in.

As for the water supply left in the Reservoir, no one needed to worry about it anymore. Apparently, right underneath the floor of the reservoir was _another _reservoir which contained clean water supplies, untouched by the acid rain. But all of this happened soon after Krai died, and a crack had just suddenly appeared on the floor of the reservoir and started to pour water back into the reservoir, as if to give back the water to the humans that she had taken earlier.

"So, everything's starting to go back to how it was 10 years ago." Kusanagi said out of the blue. Everyone was standing outside of the Tokyo Government Building, breathing deep fresh air that smelled so nostalgic.

"Yeah." Yuuto mumbled, looking dazed.

"I'm glad the acid rain ceased to fall." said Kakyou, eyes looking over all the sand dunes around Tokyo and the gradually sprouting shoots.

"Yeah." Yuuto mumbled again, still looking dazed.

Kusanagi and Kakyou looked at each other, confused as to why Yuuto was in this state.

"Just imagining this place full of greeneries makes me happy." exclaimed Kazuki, jumping around in happiness. Although he is sad with what happened to Leia's siblings, his mood quickly returned to its usual goofiness and giddiness over the lands slowly healing from the acid rain.

"Yeah." Once again, Yuuto mumbled. Everyone was certain that his mind is somewhere else, and so they gathered quietly and planned to make a fool out of him by making him say something that is rarely said by him.

Satsuki went first. "Yuuto, I want you to be my baby's daddy."

Eyes still dazedly staring over the sand dunes, Yuuto replied unconsciously, "Yeah."

Truthfully, everything that they had said afterwards, starting from Satsuki, were total lies, made to test whether Yuuto was truly and certainly dazed or not, and when he replied with the same answer, everyone got braver.

Next was Kakyou's turn. Normally, he wouldn't participate in something as frivolous as this, but he was nudged by Kusanagi repeatedly in the ribs that he said what he had been itching to say years ago. "Say 'yeah' if you're gay."

"Yeah."

Tiptoeing towards Yuuto with a goofy look on his face, Kusanagi said, "Admit it, you're a fool."

Nodding unconsciously, Yuuto mumbled, "Yeah."

Grinning widely like an idiot, Kusanagi exclaimed to the little crowd of people mainly consisting Kamui, Subaru, Leia and Fuuma, and the rest of the Towers, now that they're on good terms, they take great fun talking with each other. "Heard that everyone?"

Just as Yuuto was going to mumble another 'yeah', Kazuki, Kusanagi and Satsuki exclaimed in his ears as loudly as they could, "YEAH!!!"

Everyone let out loud barks of laughter after they witnessed Yuuto finally snapping out of his zoned-out status, falling hard on his bum.

"What were you thinking about that made you zone out like that?"asked Kusanagi, helping Yuuto up by offering him a hand.

"No, it's just that, well, I-"

Sorata joined in the fun by laughing aloud when he saw what expression Yuuto now wore on his face, "Man, you looked so guilty! What did you do? Did you overhear love confessions or something?"

To their surprise, Yuuto actually fell into a shock.

Eyes widened in surprise, Kusanagi said to his best pal, "Whoa! You did?! Who!? Which couples escaped our eyes!?"

Upon hearing the said accusation, Yuuto glanced towards Kamui and Leia, and everyone followed his gaze. The limelight now currently shines on Kamui and Leia.

"So? You're the new couple here, yeah? Cool." Fuuma said to Kamui, nudging him on the ribs, which earned him a glare since Kamui has decided to hate anyone that has anything to do with the one eyed creep, aka Seishirou.

"We're planning to leave after making sure everything is alright," was what came as a reply from Kamui. Everyone sobered up at once.

Kazuki looked up to Kamui and asked, "Why?"

"Since this creep is here (Kamui jerked his thumb at Fuuma. Fuuma glared at him: "I have a name you brat!"), the other creep (Fuuma rolled his eyes: "The name's Seishirou Kamui, Sei-shi-rou.") will soon catch up to us, and we need to return back to where we came from."

"And Leia-"

"Leia will come with me," said Kamui, eyes strayed towards where Leia stood, beside him.

Smiling at him, Leia said to the small crowd. "I've decided to leave. This place, this world, they held many memories for me, but the memories I have does more harm to me than good."

**Flashback-during when Yuuto overhears what Kamui had said to Leia-**

_Yuuto was skipping, yes, skipping, down the stairs. The recovery of the Earth had somehow lightened his mood and he felt strangely happy. His skipping came to a stop when he heard someone in one of the many halls in Tokyo Government Building talking. Taking a quick cover behind a thick column, Yuuto squatted down and prepared to eavesdrop._

"_Come with me," aid a rather familiar voice, which he seldom heard, but he knew at once who the voice belonged to._

"_I…its too sudden…I don't know if I should…"_

"_Just come with me. I'll protect you, I'll give you everything you ever wanted and I'll make you my queen, just come with me."_

"_Kamui, you have to understand. I've lost everything I ever had over this short amount of time I've stayed with you, and somehow, even though there's nothing much happened between us, I felt contently happy."_

"_Then-"_

"_Kamui, please, listen to me."_

"_As you wish."_

"_A part of my heart died a little when I lost my home and my parents to the fire years ago, and part of my heart died again when Freya left me. Now, with Krai no longer living, my heart shattered. I don't think you would want it-"_

"_No!"_

_A brief look of surprise crossed over Leia's eyes, and Kamui immediately apologized._

"_I'm sorry, I shouldn't raise my voice like that…it's just that…"_

_Kamui ruffled his hair in frustration_(A/N:Dare you imagine that? *Wicked laugh*)

_Grasping her shoulder as gently as he could, Kamui said to her, "Leia, I want you to understand this, no matter what happens, no matter how shattered your heart is, no matter what your past is, I'll accept them wholeheartedly."_

"_Kamui-"_

"_I know this may sound ridiculous to you, but to me, now, both you and Subaru are my everything. You are my bride, and I want you to be happy. I know that this place holds more sadness than happiness for you; I want to take you back with Subaru and me. Let's leave this place."_

_A single tear escaped Leia's eyes "Kamui…"_

_Grasping Leia's hand gently, Kamui kissed the back of her hand lovingly, savoring the smooth, cool skin beneath his lips. For a while, the look on his face touched Leia's heart. The eyes he had for her explained what words can never describe, for the love he had for her deeply reflected on his amethyst eyes._

_One leg kneeling on the ground, Kamui said what he had wanted to say the moment he made her his bride,"Come with me my bride, and let me protect you for eternity. I'll make you my queen with my love."_

**End of Flashback**

"The time has come for us to leave; I thank everyone for the kindness that you have shown to us." Said Subaru politely, bowing his head a little as a sign of respect.

"I say, you're far too polite here, Subaru-san. Kamui's the one that worked the hardest among us to protect the water, without him, we're history," said Kusanagi, nudging Sorata in a friendly way.

"Come see us again if you drop by in this world." Kakyou said, which earned him several raised-eyebrow looks.

"Definitely." said Leia, smiling sweetly to Kakyou. Kusanagi slapped a hand over his mouth to hold himself from saying "cute".

The portal (or whatever it is) to another world opened from underneath Kamui, Subaru and Leia's feet. Kamui offered his hand for Leia to hold, which she took gladly. It was the first time that she had been given the privilege to travel to another 'world', and was thrilled at the idea after she had moped around for a while. Giving everyone a last wave, Leia said to the little crowd of people that came to send them on their way to another world, "Thank you everyone, for everything."

"Remember to drop by for a visit!!!" exclaimed Kazuki.

Leia smiled at him, "We'll see each other again someday."

Leia turned her attention to Kamui and Subaru, both smiling at her.

"Ready for the journey, my bride?" asked Kamui, kissing the back of her hand lovingly. Leia replied by smiling, "Most undeniably."

**The End of Guardian Princess**

_Written on: 13__th__of May 2009_

_A/N: Finally finally! Guardian Princess is Complete! I apologize for the horridiously long time it took me to upload this when I had all the free time I had these past few months (I'm currently waiting for the 24th of October, the time for me to leave home with my pillows and bags to live in the University Apartment[it's just a name, not a real apartment for University students] for the nursing course I'm taking in Masterskill College, Sabah Branch.) And so, I've finally finished this, and then I'll be working on to my next story, Expect the Unexpected, a D. fanfic consisting of Satoshi and my OC. _

_And here!(held up a glass of champagne) I thank everyone and my beta reader (who just loves the name Vampire...[I mean, who wouldn't?]) for being patient with my clumsiness in writing and updating Guardian Princess and the time it took for me to complete it. I love your support, and I really really, REALLY appreciates all the comments left for my story, not to mention all those people out there who add my story to favorites or alert or me as their favorite author, for whenever I felt down for the day, all I have to do is just surf up the net for fanfiction, read all those comments left for me in Guardian Princess and straight on, it brought a smile to my lips. I am truly happy for that, and for that alone, I thank everyone for staying with me till the end._

_Sincerely from the bottom of my heart,  
Artemis615 _


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